40 Weeks
by Plesiosaur
Summary: Real World Bubbline AU. Forty weeks can make a life and completely change others. Long family fic. Complete!
1. Week 1

**Another Real World AU! Because why not? I did a tiny teaser fic for this story called This Could Be The Start Of Something, which contains a little back story and sets the scene. It's not absolutely necessary to have read it first but you might like to? Well anyway, it's in my story list if you want to check it out.**

 **I figured there were a million bubbline fics where they're just getting together so it'd be fun to do one where the main relationship is already well established. The real world names of my characters here are the same as in La Vie En Rose but it is a completely separate universe, mostly because I wanted Marceline to have a decent relationship with her not as evil father in this fic, Hunson is just a regular guy who struggled to raise his daughter after his wife died. And Lydia is the name I gave to LSP for real world stuff, and Jake's family name is Madigan (it's an Irish surname that literally means 'little dog').**

 **In case you're not sure what this fic is actually about, forty weeks is the length of a human pregnancy. And if you don't already know why they've gone to Denmark at the start it'll all get explained later in the story. So yeah, pregnancy fic. Don't say I didn't warn you.**

 **Content Warning: mentions of historical character death due to cancer, medical language.**

* * *

"Scandinavia, though. We should actually see it when we're here next. Don't you think?"

"Mm, maybe. But we might not be here again any time soon. If it works first time we'll not have any reason to come back, or any spare time to come back in. Not for ages."

"Gothenburg's nice. I played there for like, a week when I did that summer tour with the Philharmonic. Didn't get to really explore it properly but it was pretty enough to look at. And our bus went past this huge theme park right in the middle of the city centre, like, the roller coasters came right out over the roads. And we could go out into the countryside too, I hear the west coast is really beautiful. Maybe rent a boat and go island hopping or-"

"Marcy, please just shut up. In the nicest possible way, I'm trying not to freak out here. Just shut up and hold my hand until the plane's off the ground, please?"

Marceline shut up and laced her fingers through Bonnie's instead. She might have sulked about being told to be quiet in years past but she knew her girlfriend was a nervous flier and she'd only been talking to try to distract her anyway. The jet engines thundered harder and the airplane accelerated, a few seconds more and they were tilted backwards and thrown back into their seats as the plane rose sharply into the air and the runway fell away beneath them. After a few long minutes of climbing Bonnie exhaled and squeezed Marcy's hand.

"Right, now you can talk again." she said with a relieved sigh. "What were you trying to tell me?"

"Dunno, something about Scandinavia being a nice place to travel in? I forgot now. But I guess we're not gonna have a lot of free time to go anyway. You know. If it works."

Marcy gestured vaguely downwards at herself and looked away, out of the window. Bonnie squeezed her hand again. After eight years together she didn't need Marceline to tell her when she was brooding about something, Bonnie could read her moods at a glance. Best to let her be quiet for now, if that's what she wanted. Pushing Marceline to talk before she was ready would only ever cause her to clam up completely so Bonnie just held her hand quietly and ran her thumb comfortingly across the back. They spent the next half hour or so in comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Hey, Bon?" Marcy asked her quietly after a while.

"Hm?"

"Do you think Cinnamon'll be jealous?"

"Are you kidding? Someone his own size who's warm and soft and smells like milk? He's gonna be the happiest cat in the world. No idea how Peppermint will take it but I'm sure he'll get over it eventually." Bonnie shrugged in reply.

They lapsed back into silence again for several long minutes. Bonnie closed her eyes and leaned back into her seat; once she was over the fear of actual take off air travel often made her a little sleepy. She was only just on the right side of awake when Marcy next spoke, quietly and hesitantly.

"Babe, I know there's literally nothing I can do about it right now and it's pointless worrying about it. But what if it didn't work though? What if it won't work, if there's something wrong with me?"

Bonnie opened her eyes and wriggled around in her seat so she was looking her partner in the face. She squeezed Marcy's hands again until the dark haired woman looked up and reluctantly met her eyes.

"Then we'll find another way. This is something you want, let's be honest we've both known for ages that you wanted it more than you let on. And I do, too. I don't want you to think I'm just going along with it for your sake because that's simply not true. We both really want this. And we've been planning it for so long; if this doesn't work we'll find another way. I promise." Bonnie murmured softly, holding Marcy's gaze with earnest eyes.

Marceline sighed gently and leaned forwards in her seat, resting their foreheads together.

"Why are you so damn perfect all the time? Seriously though. I don't know what I did to deserve someone so wonderful. Thank you for being there for me, I couldn't do this alone." she said quietly.

"Anything for my girl." Bonnie replied just as softly, resting one hand lovingly against Marcy's cheek and tilting her forwards for a brief kiss.

She closed her eyes again and leaned her head on Marceline's shoulder, letting the hum of the engines lull her back into her nap. Tomorrow they had a rare weekday off together before she was back at work and Marcy was back to lounging around the house for most of the summer pretending that she was planning lectures but mostly messing around with her various instruments. And after the stress and hassle of their 'holiday' they were both looking forward to having a day to relax at home together.

Maybe Bonnie dreamed it, she was almost certain she did. Because it had been less than a week, only four days really, and they both knew it was far too early to know and that the balance of likelihood was that it hadn't worked first time. But she thought she heard Marcy murmur; "You are so loved and wanted already, you know that? And you're so lucky. Your Mama is literally the best person I have ever met. We've wanted you for so long, little one. Dunno if I can wait a whole nine months more to meet you. Please let it have worked."

Bonnie smiled in her sleep, sliding her hand carefully on top of Marceline's where it rested protectively on her stomach.

...

Of course even though they'd been away all week Peppermint just looked at them with impassive yellow eyes and rubbed himself against Hunson's leg, flicking his tail in annoyance when Cinnamon barrelled past him and leaped straight into Bonnie's arms with a happy mewl.

"Dumb little guy's missed you, he kept looking in the garden in case I'd hidden you both behind the shed." the severe faced older man told them with a nod.

"Oh did you miss us, silly kitty? I missed you too." Bonnie crooned, rubbing Cinnamon's ears and making him purr harder. "Let's get you home and get some lovely tuna, hm? Who's my silly little kitty cat?"

"You girls won't say for a cup of tea?" Hunson asked with a small frown. Marcy shook her head, it was getting late and she'd missed her own bed far more than she'd missed her father.

"I thought you'd like to drop by for dinner tomorrow night instead, Daddy? I was going to make a casserole, with a side of the souls of tax evaders for you too, lightly steamed." Marcy smiled in reply.

They both laughed at the long standing joke and Bonnie spared a distracted smile over Cinnamon's hairy ginger head too. Hunson had retired the year previous but he still reserved a special place in his heart to loathe people who didn't do their taxes properly. Marcy had explained it as basically the same thing as being a king or queen of Narnia; once a senior tax inspector, always a senior tax inspector. He'd never quite managed to just relax into his retirement. She was hoping that if everything worked out he'd have enough of a distraction to stop brooding over not being at work. He even volunteered with local businesses to do their tax returns free of charge on a weekend, said he found it relaxing. Bonnie supposed everyone needed a hobby but she could imagine nothing worse than spending her Saturdays going over the books with various shop owners for no actual pay.

"That does sound tempting, Pumpkin. Around sixish? I'll bring a bottle of something. Red or white?"

Marceline shot a not entirely subtle look at Bonnie, who shook her head minutely. No alcohol until they knew either way, just to be on the safe side.

"Actually Daddy, I'm off wine for right now. Managed to pick up an ear infection and I'm on a course of antibiotics. But you can bring something for yourself if you like." Marceline mumbled in reply, avoiding his eyes. Hunson frowned but nodded.

"Well then, I'll bring dessert instead. There's a new bakery in town, I'll drop by and pick up something light." he replied.

They said their goodbyes and loaded the cats along with their luggage into the back of the car as twilight began to fall around them. Hunson waved them off from the front driveway, golf club held aloft too because he was going to spend the last few minutes of daylight practising his putt on the lawn.

"I say it every time, but you father is decidedly odd." Bonnie said as she watched him swing the club in the rear view mirror. "You know he's tried to train Peppermint to retrieve golf balls for him? It's probably even worked. I've never known a bond between man and cat like it."

"Yep, he's an oddball alright. Runs in the family." Marcy replied with a tired grin. "Just you wait till Simon's back from his cruise and we can have an oddball family reunion."

"Mhm, I think I'll see if Betty wants to maybe go shopping instead or something if you're going to inflict Simon and your Dad on me at the same time." Bonnie replied around a yawn.

"No fair, I wanna go shopping with Betty too! Leave the old men to be weird together and we can have a girly day someplace instead. Maybe we can go get our nails done."

"Or get facials. Can you see Simon trying to tag along to that?"

"Yeah, he totally would though. He'd insist they use professional beard wash for him and everything. We could go see a chick flick at the cinema. Then a makeover. Then maybe even go to a musical." Marcy said with a smile. "Or, perhaps not. Simon'd definitely want to come to that; you know he's way into musical theatre."

They were still laughing about Simon's theatrical streak when Bonnie pulled the car onto their own drive ten minutes later. The front garden was a little overgrown; she made a mental note to mow the lawn tomorrow. But it was so good to be home, for now she just wanted to get into bed and relax with her girlfriend.

"Come on then my hairy little guys, let's get your dinner." Marcy sighed happily as she lifted Peppermint and Cinnamon in their carry crate through the front door, leaving Bonnie to heft their bags from the back seat. It was nearly, almost, like there was no expectant tension at all in the dark haired woman's posture. Only someone who knew her very well would be able to tell she was worried about anything at all; it was all in the tight lines of her shoulders and her uncharacteristic nervous energy to fix stuff. Bonnie watched Marceline worriedly as she fed the cats and then immediately began unpacking their luggage onto the kitchen floor.

"Come on, love. We don't need to fix all that right now, do we?" Bonnie asked, sliding an arm around Marcy's waist and pulling her into a gentle hug from behind. Marceline sighed and put down the laundry she'd been sorting, turning in Bonnie's arms and hugging her back tightly.

"Sorry. Just, I wanted something to take my mind off it. I know we have ages to wait yet but I'm struggling to think about anything else at all. Should I be able to feel something yet? What if I don't feel anything, is that normal? What if it just didn't work?"

"We've been through this already, sweetie. If it didn't work then we go back next month. And if that doesn't work that time either then we go back the month after, and the month after that if that's what you want. We're not just gonna give up right away. Besides we don't know yet, it might have worked perfectly. All we can do is wait and see, you need to try to be patient. Even if it did work there are still months and months of waiting ahead of us." Bonnie replied gently.

"I know. I just... what if, though? I might be broken. What if I just can't? I could be broken, like how my Mum was in the end."

Bonnie hugged her harder, knowing what Marceline was skirting around. Her mother had died from cervical cancer and despite all the reassurances a doctor girlfriend could give she was still scared that it meant something might be wrong with her, too. There was nothing to suggest that Marceline's mother's cancer was the kind that ran in families but Marcy insisted on getting a yearly cervical smear to check for cancerous cells and was always so terrified of being ill in any way. Bonnie understood why though, she wasn't about to be anything less than completely supportive. Marcy hadn't ever really gotten over the way her mother had just left without saying goodbye.

"Like I said, we'll find a way. I promise. You're not broken." Bonnie murmured reassuringly. "Come on, it's past ten already. We can be boring old women and just go to bed. I dunno about you but an early night sounds pretty appealing."

Marcy nodded and let herself be lead out of the kitchen, flicking the lights off as they went. She followed Bonnie up the stairs to their bedroom and accepted her favourite pyjamas with a small smile when her girlfriend handed them across to her.

"You always know exactly how to make me feel better." she said, sliding in between the sheets and watching Bonnie change into her own pyjamas with tired eyes.

"Years of practice, I've studied all the very best ways of making you feel better. You wanna know a secret? It's because I'm actually in love with you, I have been since the night we met. Do you wanna be the little spoon tonight?" Bonnie asked with an answering smile as she climbed into bed besides her girlfriend. Marcy nodded.

"Is that ok? I dunno, think I'm feeling a bit fragile."

Bonnie kissed the side of her neck and flicked the lamp off then snuggled down next to her, wrapping her arms lovingly around Marcy's shoulders and waist and resting her face against her soft silky hair.

"You can be as fragile as you need, love. I'll be right here for you."

Marcy didn't reply, just curled over onto her side and let her girlfriend snuggle up against her back. She let out a contented sigh and closed her eyes.

"You know what? I love you so fucking much, Bon." she said quietly into the darkness of their bedroom.

"And I love you too, you know. Goodnight, sweetie."

Despite the darkness in the room Bonnie knew instinctively a few minutes later that it was Cinnamon who jumped onto the end of the bed and snuggled up between her feet with a hard contented purr. Peppermint would be out all night happily murdering any small squeaky creatures he could find but the big ginger cat preferred to stay in the house and cuddle up on the bed with his people, especially if they'd been away for a while. Bonnie smiled into her pillow a few minutes later when Marceline took her hand and slid it from where it rested on her hip down to cradle her stomach instead. Bonnie let her hand slip under the hem of Marcy's pyjama shirt and rest against the warm skin there. She lay awake for a few minutes more, just enjoying being so close and listening to the steady slow breathing of the person she loved best in the whole world.

...

The sound of the TV blaring to life in the lounge brought Marceline awake way too early the next morning. She rolled over with a frown, Bonnie was still asleep next to her and the clock on the wall by the door was showing that it was only quarter past six in the morning and way too early for her to be awake. There was an outside possibility that one of the cats had stepped on the TV remote but it was more likely-

Yep, when she slid out of bed and crept down the stairs to investigate there was Finn. He was slumped exhausted on their sofa with a cup of tea he'd made himself in Bonnie's special mug and his feet up on the coffee table despite the perfectly good foot stool right next to him. He nearly spilled his drink down himself when she spoke; obviously he'd not heard her come downstairs.

"Seriously dude, if you keep just turning up like this I'm either gonna have to ask for our spare key back, take you to a rescue shelter or start charging rent."

Finn hastily removed his feet from the furniture and put the mug down, hurrying upright and coming forward to claim his hug.

"You're not supposed to be home till the twelfth!" he said with a confused frown, grabbing her into a hug anyway. "Why'd you come back early?"

"It was the twelfth yesterday, doofus." Marcy replied with a grin. "So this is what you do when I ask you to water the house plants and collect the mail for us, huh? Drink our tea and watch cartoons? Didn't the bags in the kitchen and the presence of the cats give it away? And our car in the drive?"

She slid down onto the sofa and Finn sat too, offering the tea mug sheepishly. Marcy took it and drank a few mouthfuls, wrinkling her nose at how unforgivably sweet Finn always took his tea. It was a mystery to her how he had any teeth left at all, they should have rotted away years ago from the amount of sugar he added to everything

"Huh, yeah guess I should've noticed that. I just got back from night shift, I was gonna crash out on your sofa for a while before I head home. It was a rough one." he replied with a tired shrug. Finn was still waiting for his promotion from uniformed police up to real detective but he was firearms trained and often worked with the serious crimes unit. He was first on the scene to all the most disturbing homicides and assault cases, his dinner party stories were the stuff of legends.

"More murders?" Marcy asked sympathetically, grabbing the remote and turning the volume down by habit. Bonnie could have slept through the world ending but the noise was too much for Marcy to deal with when she'd just woken up. She took a moment to really look at her friend; he was obviously exhausted and she wondered when he'd last eaten a proper meal. She would make him stay for dinner, she nodded to herself.

"No murders tonight but a really nasty assault and an unforgivable wait for the ambulance to arrive. I know they're stretched too but it was over an hour. Typical but it doesn't make my life any easier." he grumbled tiredly. "And then I had to fill out all the paperwork too. We got the bastard though, he's almost certainly waking up in the cells now with a world class hangover. Hope they put him away for good, scumbag. Then there was a four vehicle road traffic collision and a heroin overdose, one of our regulars. Then the Sergeant spilled my coffee over my paperwork and I had to start again with half of if. It really wasn't my best shift ever."

Marceline hugged him again, she wouldn't have swapped jobs with Finn for anything.

"How was Denmark?" he asked in a voice that dragged with lethargy.

"You really wanna talk about that or do you wanna crash out and get some sleep?"

"Sleep? Is that ok? Honestly I don't think I'm up to the drive all the way home yet." he mumbled with his eyes half closed.

"Nobody's waiting for you at home right now?"

"Nah. I broke up with that chick Bonnie works with. She was nice but just, too high maintenance for me. And we barely ever had time to see each other anyway and she spent the whole time we were together talking about her exes. Must've had about a million of them by the sounds of it. Anyway it was pretty amicable, she's already seeing someone else and I'd be cool with hanging out as friends."

"Bonnie set you up with Lydia?" Marcy asked, surprised. She could see it actually when she thought about it, so long as Finn wasn't looking for something serious.

Finn nodded a little but he didn't reply, just threw one arm around her shoulders in a hug and stretched his long legs back out across the foot stool, wriggling around a little to get comfortable. Now that she was awake it was hard for Marcy not to start dwelling on the reason for their week away again. It was probably lucky Finn was too tired to talk much, she might have blurted the whole thing out to him and she'd already decided she didn't want to tell anyone else about it, not yet. Because if it hadn't worked then dealing with everyone's sympathy would make it a million times worse; then managing their expectations if they went back to try again. Still, she'd been friends with Finn and Jake since they'd played together in their college orchestra years ago, long before she'd even met Bonnie, and it might have been nice to unload her worries onto her oldest friends. Finn wouldn't understand though and he probably wouldn't take it seriously. Marceline knew it was a reaction to his high stress and often very disturbing job but Finn never took anything seriously. She didn't want to have to be upset with him if he said something out of line so it was probably better to just keep her mouth shut for now.

Peppermint leaped up lightly on the sofa next to where Finn was beginning to snore leaning against Marcy. The heavy set grey cat purred hard and immediately curled up on Finn's lap, consenting to let his mistress reach out and stroke his head carefully. She tried to follow Finn's cartoon for a while, it was one of his favourites and a cult classic but despite being in bed early the night before her eyelids felt heavy. Having a sleepy kitty and a snoring best friend snuggled against her was pretty contagious. Perhaps she'd just rest her eyes for a minute, she thought drowsily.

When Marcy woke again a few hours later it was to find that someone had switched the TV off and tucked the fleece blanket from the back of the sofa across her and Finn. The delicious smell of cooking bacon was wafting through from the kitchen and someone was humming tunelessly. Finn opened his eyes blearily and looked around in confusion when he found himself snuggled up with his best friend on the sofa.

"Hey. You made bacon?" he asked her in a sleep-rough voice.

"Mm nah, not me." Marcy replied with a yawn, sitting up and rolling her shoulders to loosen the stiff muscles from where she'd been napping in a strange position.

"Your girlfriend is absolutely magic." Finn said with a huge grin when he worked out what was going on. "She must have gone to the shops while we were asleep, you didn't have bacon in the fridge this morning. I know, I already checked the whole kitchen for anything edible."

"Yeah, she is pretty magical." Marcy agreed, grinning back and pulling him up to his feet. They stumbled off to the kitchen together to see if Bonnie needed any help with fixing the late breakfast.


	2. Week 2

**So apparently a couple of people were a little confused with the last chapter? I'm not sure what's confusing but if you guys could let me know I can get on with fixing it. Well my apologies if you were confused by anything, anyway. Like with all the real world stuff I write, this fic is set in Britain because I'm British and I don't know enough about how this stuff works in the US to write it convincingly there (and I'm not willing to put in the hours and hours of research it would require, sorry). It's set eight years after the end of This Could Be The Start Of Something, which sets up the scene for this fic. Anything else unclear? Let me know.**

 **Name notes! Again. I'm trying to keep OCs to a bare minimum because most people seem to hate them. So Dr King is of course the King of Ooo. Everyone hates him too, ah well.**

 **Content Warning: medical language, not very graphic lady sexing.**

* * *

Sixteen days since their appointment at the private Danish clinic found Bonnie hovering anxiously outside the bathroom, talking to her partner through the door.

"You don't think it's too early to check this? I don't think my nerves could last through a borderline result." Marcy called to her.

"It's been two weeks, it should be perfectly detectable by now." Bonnie replied as soothingly as she could manage.

"Ok. And... there, we're dipped. We've gotta wait for about three minutes and I feel like I'm gonna puke with nerves. Take my mind off it?"

"How? Wait, do you wanna know about how this test works?"

"Yeah, that should do it. Science me. I know you're just dying to tell me anyway."

Bonnie nodded, secretly relieved. She was nervous too, trying hard not to show it because she knew if she started freaking out then they both would and then they'd just be having a massive freak out together and not even looking at the test results. The bathroom door opened and Marcy appeared still in her PJs; she followed Bonnie back to the bedroom across the hall and sat ramrod straight on the edge of their mattress. It was obvious that the tension was holding her rigid.

"Ok, so the levels of human chorionic gonadotropin in the sample bind exclusively to the antibody the test is permeated with-"

"Wait, wait. Human core ironic donuts? Ok, now let's pretend you're explaining it for someone who doesn't already have several advanced medical degrees."

"Sorry, love. Human chorionic gonadotropin is the hormone in the sample we're testing for and it's only present in a positive sample. So if it's present the antibody will bind to the hormone-"

"Wait, it has antibodies? So the test is like, immune to the hormone?"

Bonnie smiled fondly; Marcy had never had a head for medical terminology.

"I can see I over complicated it when I used the word antibody, didn't I? In this case antibody just means literally any kind of biological molecule that will only bind to one particular thing. Like human chorionic gonadotropin. It's not gonna cause an immune response the way to would in someone's body though." she replied.

"Oh. So if this human ironic hormone stuff is in there then the antibodies grab it and you can see it?"

"Sort of, yeah. If the antibodies detect the presence of the hormone at a high enough concentration then they cause a blue pigment to be released and become visible to the naked eye, and then you can see the positive result. It all depends on the hormone concentration being at detectable levels which it should now be if it's present in the sample."

"Hehe. You said 'naked'. Ewww. Bonnie said a dirty word."

"You're a butt, Marcy."

Marceline rested her head on her girlfriend's shoulder, took her hand and gripped it tightly in her own. Her fragile smile was paper thin and they both knew the humour was entirely faked. Marcy didn't deal well with nerves and she really didn't deal well with being ill in any way. Right now she needed more support than Bonnie did. They'd known right from the start that it would have to be that way but that didn't necessarily make it easier now that the time had actually come.

"At the end when everything's, like, ready, it's gonna hurt isn't it?" she asked quietly without a trace of the forced humour in her voice anymore.

"Yeah, sweetie. It's probably gonna hurt more than anything you've ever felt and there's no point pretending otherwise. But I'll be right there with you and it'll be worth it, won't it?"

"S'pose."

"You suppose? You don't think it's a bit late to be having doubts?"

"I don't doubt my decision. It was the best way to do it, it makes sense for it to be me because you're working so much and it's not gonna affect my career to put things on hold for a while. And I do really want it, God. I want it so much, I have for years. I'm just… yeah, I'm scared. This is too important to fuck up."

Bonnie squeezed her hand and pressed a gentle kiss onto her girlfriend's forehead.

"I think you're supposed to be a bit scared. I think if you're not scared at least a little then you're probably not doing it right anyway. I'm scared too and you know how much I hate admitting that I'm afraid of anything. And it's ok to be afraid of the pain. You can pretend to everyone else in the world that you're this stoic badass without any feelings but you can't fool me, I know you too well. You can be as scared as you want with me and you know I'll still be here for you."

Marceline didn't reply, just gripped her hand harder. After a long moment Bonnie realised the other woman's shoulders were shaking slightly and she was making a very quiet sniffling noise.

"Are you crying, love?" she asked as gently as possible.

"No, you're crying." Marcy replied distantly in a voice thick with tears.

"I promise it's gonna be ok. We're gonna do this together, ok? No matter how much it hurts, you just keep squeezing my hand and we'll get there."

Marcy nodded against her shoulder, sniffling a little bit more.

"What if you think I'm gross, though? What if I get all weird and stretched and ugly and you think I'm repulsive and run off with someone else?" she asked after a moment.

"I will always think you're the most beautiful woman who ever existed. Always. And who would I even run off with?" Bonnie asked with a small smile.

"I dunno. That doctor chick you used to date when you were an undergrad?"

"Do you mean Shoko? Sweetie, she was a kleptomaniac who treated me like dirt. I'd rather never see another naked woman for the rest of my life than have anything to do with her again."

Marcy shrugged a little. She'd never been introduced to Shoko, just seen her briefly at a distance the night they'd met.

"Maybe Lady then, you guys are way close and what if she decides Jake and the kids are too much work and she'd rather be in sexy lesbian utopia? All straight girls know that lesbians never fight and do nothing but cuddle all day and have mind blowing sex then adopt cute kittens together. She might want a piece of that. I would, if I was a straight girl."

Bonnie did laugh at that, the idea of Lady leaving Jake and trying to get into her pants was just plain hilarious.

"Sexy lesbian utopia sounds awesome! But I really don't think you need to worry about that, sweetie. Lady is my friend, I don't find her attractive. And she's crazy about Jake; you've seen how they are together. Besides their kids are absolutely adorable. I don't think they'd have made five of them in seven years if they hadn't been pretty committed to each other. So no, not gonna leave you for Lady. Or for anyone else either. You're stuck with me."

Marcy laughed a little too and a bit of the tension wound out from her shoulders. After a moment more she tensed up again and the shaking came back. She was crying quietly, shamefully, face hidden into her girlfriend's shirt and hand gripping hers tightly enough that it was a little painful. Bonnie smoothed down Marcy's messy ponytail with her free hand and wiped the tears from the cheek she could reach.

"Are you crying because you're scared?" Bonnie asked quietly when the other woman didn't show any sign of stopping. It took Marceline a while to get enough control over herself to reply more than a shake of the head.

"No. I'm crying because we've been sitting like this for way more than the three minutes we needed to wait and you've not even glanced at the result yet. I was gonna tell you like, five minutes ago but you started being adorable and I wanted to hear all the nice stuff you had to say first."

Bonnie tensed, too. She'd forgotten they were supposed to be timing it. Somehow in the middle of comforting Marceline she'd forgotten what she was even worried about in the first place. Now it returned to her mind with a vengeance. Human chorionic gonadotrophin levels. Antibody binding. Oh. She understood much better why Marceline was crying.

"Did you look yet?" she asked quietly.

Marceline nodded.

"And you're crying because it's negative? Oh love, I'm so sorry. We can try again. Whenever you feel ready."

"No. It's positive." Marcy whispered. She lifted up her other hand, the one gripping the test tightly. There were two very definite blue lines in the little box on the plastic test the clinic had given them. One to show the test was working and one-

"It worked first time? You're pregnant?"

Bonnie wasn't even sure if what she was feeling was terror or elation. Both, probably. But somehow her lips found Marceline's and they were holding each other and kissing and crying and God it had worked and they were going to be _parents-_

They'd ended up sprawled across their bed together, kissing becoming increasingly less chaste the longer it went on.

"Wait!" Bonnie gasped, pulling back for a moment so she could look her girlfriend in the eye. It was difficult to think with Marceline's cool slim hands sliding along her ribcage but there was something important she needed to ask and she had to know before they went further.

"Is this ok? This isn't gonna, you know, make you feel weird? Hurt the baby?"

Marcy just stared at her, that special rare look she used only when her usually super smart girlfriend said something amazingly dumb.

"It's not a baby yet. It's like, one cell or something. It doesn't have nerves and it definitely won't be upset by anything you do to me, unless you were planning on getting a lot kinkier than I'm comfortable with. But if you're still worried there's time to call up your old med school."

Bonnie flushed, embarrassed.

"I'm not going to call my former medical tutors and ask them if it's safe to have sex with my two weeks pregnant girlfriend." she mumbled, mortified that something so intensely stupid had actually come out of her own actual mouth.

"I wasn't suggesting that. I was gonna say you could ring them and ask for a refund on all your fancy degrees since obviously you used some kind of dark magic to get them in the first place and didn't actually learn anything about medicine." Marceline replied, grinning wickedly.

Bonnie hit her gently with a pillow before returning to the spectacular kissing. She could only assume that being amazingly happy and mind blown also made her kinda stupid. Well that was fine, she was too happy to care.

...

"This stuff tastes weird, like metallic or something." Marcy frowned, screwing the lid back on the bottle of vitamin solution.

"Mm, more likely your taste buds are starting to go mental because of all the new hormones. Two weeks is a bit on the early side, you must just be kinda unlucky." Bonnie replied, scanning the back of the packet of pregnancy care vitamins thoughtfully. There was nothing in there that should taste like much of anything.

She'd run to the corner shop to get the vitamins, insisting that Marcy stay home and put her feet up. Marceline suspected she'd be thoroughly sick of putting her feet up by the end of the nine months but it was raining outside that morning and she still had a bit of a sniffle from the cold she'd picked up on the plane home from Denmark so she hadn't argued. She'd just grabbed her favourite fluffy socks out of the dryer and stretched out on their extravagantly large sofa with a mug of coffee that Bonnie had confiscated and poured down the sink the minute she'd come home. No caffeine while pregnant, apparently it could cause low birth weight. It hadn't tasted right anyway; maybe Bonnie was right about her taste buds going mental. She still scowled down at her perfectly flat midriff all the same, muttering 'spoilsport' to it under her breath.

"What's this?" she asked, eyeing the dubious glass of thick green gloop Bonnie placed in her hand instead.

"I made you a smoothie! It's got spinach and apple and grapes in it, you've got to start eating healthy and getting plenty of fruit and veg." Bonnie replied in her bossy important doctor voice, the one that Marceline hated.

"I already eat lots of fruit and veg." Marcy replied grumpily.

"You can't just eat strawberries, you need to eat a range of different stuff. Besides, you can barely even taste the spinach. Try it, there's more in the fridge for later."

Marcy eyed it hesitantly; the green gunk was so thick she had to wait for a second after tipping the glass before it oozed slowly to her lips. She made a show of looking Bonnie dead in the eyes to let her know she was only trying her gross green stuff against her better judgement. When she reluctantly took a small sip Marcy had to repress the urge to spit it back out in disgust. The smoothie tasted rather a lot like what she imagined morning sickness was going to feel like, thick and weirdly sharp with an unpleasantly lumpy texture. Anything that unrelentingly healthy was always going to taste bad she thought as she hastily put the glass down with a sour grimace.

"Isn't one of the defining characteristics of a smoothie that it's supposed to be smooth? If what you've made even has a name then it's a 'lumpy'. Thanks for trying but I'll stick to just eating my fruit and veg like a regular person."

"Too much spinach?" Bonnie asked guiltily.

"Any spinach is too much spinach. Pour the rest down the sink please babe, you couldn't pay me to drink any more of that."

Instead of immediately replying Bonnie sat on the edge of the sofa, fiddling distractedly with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Can I do something kinda weird?" she asked after a quiet moment where she continued to fiddle and Marcy counted in her head, wondering if they'd make it a whole minute before Bonnie cracked and spat out whatever was bothering her.

"Told you babe, I'm just not cool with that level of perversion. If you wanna look at those freaky websites in your spare time-"

"Shut up, you butt! I'm not asking you to try water sports! I was just gonna ask if I can talk to your stomach." Bonnie replied with an annoyed flush on her cheeks.

Marceline grinned widely, even after eight years together Bonnie still hadn't learned that the water sports joke was just going to keep on being funny until she stopped reacting to it.

"Sure, knock yourself out. It's just a little blastything without any ears right now but I don't mind."

"Blastocyst."

"Yeah, that."

Sheepishly, like she was expecting to get laughed at any minute, Bonnie stretched out next to her girlfriend on their plush sofa and let her head rest gently on Marceline's hip, carefully stroking one hand across her lower abdomen in slow circles.

"Hey there little cell ball, um, I guess I'm your Mama. So... hey in there. How are you feeling? You're just a tiny little clump of dividing cells right now but you've got your Mum and me really excited to meet you. And you know what? You're extra lucky, because you're gonna have two Mums to love you and take care of you instead of having any smelly Dads. But don't worry, Dads leave their shoes everywhere and make awful jokes so you're not gonna miss out on anything since your Mum already does all of that too, she's been practicing just for you."

"Hey! My jokes are _hilarious."_

"You still write 'red' whenever you have to list your blood type on a medical form."

"Which is technically true."

"Ignore your silly Mum, little cell ball, she thinks she's funny."

"I can't believe you two are ganging up on me already!"

"Get used to it, you're gonna be getting ganged up on for literally the rest of your life."

"The rest of my life." Marcy repeated, staring into space with a thoughtful look on her face. "That's a pretty long time, I hope."

"You're not feeling weird about it? Cause I was only kidding, love. You and me need to work as a team or the baby's gonna be running rings around us before they're even in school." Bonnie replied worriedly, rolling up to look her in the eye. Marceline smiled reassuringly back at her.

"Nah, just thinking about all the stuff that's gonna happen. We have so much to look forwards to. First day of school and exam results and teenage hormone tantrums, graduations and bringing their dates home to meet us, becoming grandparents. It's just a lot to take in."

"I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself." Bonnie replied with a relieved sigh. "It's still just a tiny ball of cells right now, it's got a lot to get through before it can think about making us grandparents."

"But it's _our_ tiny ball of cells. We made it together. I just, I love it already and I want to make sure it'll have a good future."

"It'll have the best future ever, it's got you for a Mum. That's one seriously lucky ball of cells."

"Stop being adorable or I will be forced to take revenge, probably by kissing you."

It was a Sunday and they'd made vague plans to go shopping that day, maybe see if there was anything good on at the movies or grab dinner out somewhere. But it was so cosy curled up together on the sofa talking nonsense to Marceline's stomach and trying to get their heads around the idea that in just under nine months they would have an actual real baby in their lives. And it had been so long since they'd just had a day alone at home enjoying each other's company and having long conversations about nothing much at all. The summer rain tapping against the window and the radio still chatting cheerfully to itself in the kitchen were as much company as either of them wanted besides each other and they barely even noticed the hours sliding by as they laughed and talked together in low voices.

Some time in the early afternoon Bonnie got up to make them both a quick lunch and by the time she came back to the sofa balancing two mugs of tea and a plate of sandwiches Marceline was snoring gently, curled on her side with both hands wrapped unconsciously around her stomach. Bonnie put the sandwiches and tea down on the coffee table as quietly as possible and slid onto the floor by Marceline's head. She tucked a stray lock of fine black hair back from Marcy's relaxed face as she did so and spent a minute appreciating her wonderful girlfriend before gently waking her and handing her a mug of tea.

…

By Tuesday evening it was pretty obvious that the hormonal changes were affecting way more than just Marceline's sense of taste.

"What the hell was that?" Bonnie gasped, still a little breathless. Marcy lifted her head and grinned sheepishly.

"Um, if I had to guess I'd say it was crazy baby hormones. I suddenly have a lot more sympathy for teenage boys. It's really difficult to concentrate on anything when you've literally got this voice in the back of your head yelling 'sex!' all the time."

"I'm pretty certain it's too early for the hormones to be affecting you this strongly. Two weeks? Two and a half? I dunno how much longer this is gonna last but I think I'm gonna need a nap or something if you're planning on mauling me again tonight. Jesus, Marcy, you left claw marks down my back."

Marceline just grinned at her again, not even a little sorry for it. She'd been thinking about making dinner when Bonnie got home from work and without any warning she'd not been able to keep her hands to herself. When was the last time they'd been as crazy about each other as that? Probably when they'd first met, Marcy figured. They hadn't even made it as far as the sofa; she'd wrestled Bonnie down right in the hall the second she'd walked through the door. She hadn't cared at all about the cold floor or possibility of being walked in on if Finn dropped by unexpectedly again. Probably lucky nobody had come to the front door since the top half was plate glass and they'd made absolutely no effort to cover themselves. They were sprawled naked together surrounded by their discarded clothes and Bonnie's briefcase which had been pressed into service as a pillow as there was nothing else to rest her head on. Marcy lifted her head to look down the length of her girlfriend's back and yes, there were indeed some raised red lines left by her fingernails.

"Sorry, babe. I think I got a little carried away." she mumbled apologetically. Marcy propped herself up on her elbows and rolled forwards, pressing a gentle kiss to the scratches. Bonnie hissed at the sudden sensation.

"Ah, _fuck._ Right, clothes back on and we'll make dinner. No more kissing of the claw marks please, unless you really want to just stay here naked in the hall for hours more like a pair of animals. Honestly we're grown adults, we shouldn't just- hrng-"

Marcy had stopped listening and was kissing along the scratches enthusiastically. Bonnie broke off from trying to dissuade her when her girlfriend's fingertips found the amazingly sensitive spot just at the base of her neck and gently stroked across the top of her spine, making her shiver at the sensation.

"Tell me to stop and I will, if that's what you want. Or I can just keep going, make you feel good again." Marcy murmured breathlessly into her ear.

"Stop, just, for a second."

Marceline rolled away, wrapping her arms around herself with a hurt expression on her face.

"No, not like that, love. I just mean stop for five seconds so we can go do this in the bedroom and be more comfortable than getting freaky on the floor in the hall again. And then we'll be lazy and order pizza instead of cooking. How does that sound?"

"Like the most perfect plan anyone ever came up with in the history of perfect plans." Marcy smiled happily in reply. She allowed herself to be pulled to her feet and followed her girlfriend up the stairs to their bedroom. It was pretty late by the time they finally got around to ordering pizza.

"I feel like a gross student again." Bonnie giggled around a mouthful of stuffed crust.

"But isn't it amazing? Besides in another nine months we're literally never going to be able to have a spontaneous sex and pizza evening again, not till the kid's in university or moved out. And by then we'll be old and wrinkly and probably we'll just want to do crochet and watch TV shows about gardening." Marcy replied with a grin.

"You already crochet. You crocheted a whole baby blanket for Violet and TV when Lady was pregnant."

"Yeah? But you watch gardening shows." Marcy retorted.

"Holy shit, we're so old already." Bonnie gasped in mock horror.

"When I said I wanted to grow old with you this wasn't what I had in mind. But there are worse things." Marcy shrugged. "You're pretty fucking hot, for an old lady."

"Says you, grandma. But it is getting late and I don't have the luxury of a lie in tomorrow. I've got a department head meeting first thing and then I've got to have another word with King about his shitty attitude." Bonnie added with an eye roll.

Dr Julian King was the absolute bane of her existence; he'd been at the hospital for less than a year and already had a million opinions about how the department should be run and how Bonnie should be doing things. Just because he was slightly older than her he practically radiated resentment at Bonnie being his direct superior. He was sexist and homophobic and had almost choked at the Christmas party when Bonnie had turned up with Marcy on her arm; somehow he'd managed to miss that she was pretty openly gay.

"What did he do this time?" Marcy asked. "Is it bad enough to fire him? Please let it be bad enough to fire him. I hate that guy."

"Me too. No, this time he allegedly called Lydia 'the office slut' but it's just her word against his. I'm absolutely certain he did it and I don't think Lyds would make it up but there's no proof so the most I can do is just give him a verbal warning again. The moment he does anything even slightly worth getting fired over trust me, I'll be writing up his termination of contract notice personally." Bonnie replied.

"You're such a badass." Marcy smiled, stretching out on the sheets with a contented sigh. "I dunno if I have a bump yet or if it's pizza but it feels awesome."

"It's pizza. But I love you anyway." Bonnie replied with an answering smile, leaning forwards and kissing her girlfriend's stomach. She took the empty pizza box downstairs, made sure the cats had some food and by the time she came back to the bedroom Marceline was asleep already. She had seemed a little more tired than usual recently, probably it was a symptom of the pregnancy. Bonnie slid into the bed next to her and flicked the light off contemplatively, thinking about how different everything would be in just nine months.


	3. Week 3

**Aw you guys! Thank you so much for the lovely reviews so far, you're all so sweet! I'm really glad you're all enjoying the story so far. I've been wrestling with this chapter all night, I don't quite feel that it flows as well as it could but I'm at the point where I've tried every combination of words I can think of and I don't like to delay things by screwing around with the minutiae of the text too much. So my apologies if it doesn't hang together quite as perfectly as you'd like it to, it frustrates me too but I'm out of time and patience with it so it's just getting posted as is. Sorry, es tut mir leid, förlåt mig. Apologies always feel more heartfelt in other languages, don't you think?**

 **A brief note; I personally don't put any faith in healing crystals but respect everyone's right to their own belief system. So I'm not trying to make fun of anyone's beliefs, I just want to explore different opinions on controversial topics.**

 **Content Warning: vomit, mood swings, differing opinions on the healing qualities of crystals.**

* * *

Week three brought with it some much less welcome symptoms, like insomnia and nausea. Marcy had never been a very deep sleeper but she found she was awake all hours of the night and napped at strange times through the day. She struggled to sleep for longer than four hours at a time and by Thursday evening the nausea had progressed to full blown morning sickness which disappointingly wasn't confined just to the mornings. She'd tried to focus on writing her lectures for when the new intake of Orchestral And Contemporary Classical Music undergrads arrived in September but had given it up as a bad job and spent most of the afternoon drifting in and out of sleep or running to the bathroom to be sick. It was a welcome relief when Bonnie finally made it home. She was an hour and a half later than she should have been but that wasn't uncommon given that she was running a whole hospital department these days.

"You were on the radio again today." Bonnie told her as she moved around unpacking the groceries she'd picked up on her way home.

"Really? It must be a slow news day, I wasn't sure 'Local Musician Breaks World Vomiting Record' was actually gonna make the headlines." Marcy replied with a scowl. She wasn't in a good mood and knowing that bloody record was on the radio again wasn't improving it any.

"Ha ha, you're so funny. No, your new record was on the radio, the one with the orchestra in the background."

Marcy clenched her teeth in annoyance. She'd been tired of hearing about that record before it was even released and now it was everywhere, grating on her already frayed nerves worse than ever.

"Look it's not that I don't appreciate the exposure or the ridiculously huge sums of money we all got paid for doing it but they sampled Bach on a bloody rap song, it makes something wither up and die deep in my soul every time I hear it. If I'd known they were gonna use our music for that I'd have told them to find another damn cellist."

"Would it have been less awful if it was a punk song?"

"No. Maybe? Punk is pretty awesome, but Bon I don't think you understand. It's Bach, the _master._ He's to classical music what Shakespeare is to literature. You can't use Bach for some awful rap song about bitches and shotguns and stuff! It's like… I don't even know! I'm too angry about it to think up a good doctoring comparison. Like, blasphemy or something."

Marceline was going to continue to hotly defend Bach and the concept of musical purity in general but she made the mistake of looking at the groceries and for some reason the sight of uncooked chicken legs made her stomach roll fiercely again with a wave of queasiness. She bolted from the kitchen to the downstairs bathroom, flinging herself onto her knees in front of the toilet at the last moment and bringing up the remains of her lunch.

"New world record." she gasped weakly when she felt Bonnie crouching next to her, holding her long hair back from her face.

"You've been sick like this all day? Oh love, I'm sorry. Is the anti-nausea medication not helping?" Bonnie replied worriedly.

"It might if I could keep it down. The doctor didn't seem to really believe me that I was getting morning sickness this early on anyway. He seemed to think it was all in my head because obviously I can just explain to my body that it shouldn't be sick yet and it'll totally listen. Maybe I should just go live in his waiting room for the next few months; seems like it's the only place I don't feel like I'm about to heave my guts up."

"I got you something to try, actually." Bonnie said as she helped Marcy back to her feet and handed her a glass of water to rinse her mouth out with. "Lydia swears that ginger is better than any medication for settling an upset stomach although I'm pretty certain she uses it as a hangover cure. I thought you could give it a try, it can't hurt to see if it helps any."

Marcy shrugged and allowed herself to be lead back to the sofa with the promise of some ginger tea and perhaps a little food later if her stomach settled some. She really hated ginger in general and like she suspected it would the ginger tea tasted like spicy crap. It didn't even have any actual real tea in it either. But she did manage to keep it down and even risked a small bowl of lightly salted brown rice and some vegetables afterwards, the first full meal she'd kept down all day.

"Thanks babe." Marcy murmured tiredly when Bonnie returned from putting their bowls in the dishwasher. "Sorry I've been such an asshole tonight. Just, I feel like crap. Moody, hormonal, tired crap. It's weird how doing nothing but vomiting all day can make you so exhausted."

"You're growing a whole new person inside yourself; I'd be pretty surprised if you weren't a bit tired." Bonnie replied with a soft smile. Instead of insisting she sit up and share the space Bonnie slid around Marceline until the other woman's legs were right up against her lap then let Marcy stretch out fully while she received a gentle foot rub.

"I dunno what I've done to deserve this but it's magical. How did you know my feet ached?" she breathed, eyes closed and a look of pure bliss on her face.

"I'm a doctor, babe. It's my crazy doctor voodoo. Besides, I like looking after you." Bonnie replied.

Marceline didn't say anything, just let out a small happy sigh and wiggled a little until she was comfortably stretched with her legs in her girlfriend's lap and her arms pillowed under her head.

"I was thinking today, what about Erik for a boy?" she asked after a while.

"Oh, like the prince in The Little Mermaid? Yeah, that's really cute."

Marceline opened her eyes and frowned.

"Crap, I didn't think about that. No son of mine is getting named after a Disney character, that's just lame." she muttered. "I just meant because his sperm donor is Danish it'd be cool to give him a Viking name."

"So it's a he today, then?" Bonnie asked with an eyebrow raised teasingly.

"I read it online, if you get really bad morning sickness it's because you're having a boy. That girl who married Prince William had really bad morning sickness and look, they got a little prince. It was on the news and everything. That proves it."

"That's anecdotal evidence and also complete horse crap. Every child is assigned either male or female at birth, even kids with indeterminate genitalia. So it was always going to be a fifty-fifty chance between male or female. The morning sickness has nothing to do with it. Male specific hormones don't even begin to be produced for weeks yet." Bonnie replied smartly. Marcy stuck her tongue out at her.

"Do you have to ruin everything with science? He's a boy, I can just feel it. Besides, Daddy would be so excited to get a grandson."

"Come on love, your Dad's gonna be excited to get a grandchild whatever the gender. He was excited about getting grandcats. Can you imagine how much he's gonna spoil you when we tell him about this?"

Marcy nodded, accepting that was true. Every year her father bought and wrapped Christmas presents for Cinnamon and Peppermint. He was especially fond of Peppermint, the shifty grey tom cat had taken a real shine to Hunson and followed him around whenever he came to visit. One time he'd proudly left a particularly fat dead spider in the sombre man's shoes and Hunson had laughed about it for weeks. Marceline sometimes wondered if her father visited them more to spend time with Peppermint than with his daughter.

"You make a good point. But an irrelevant one, because we're having a boy and we'll have to think up a good Viking name for him." Marceline replied after a minute. Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"Ok, fine, let's humour you and pretend that you can magically tell the baby's sex at three weeks gestation before its genital nub has even started to grow. Your bizarre hatred of Disney means Erik is right off the table. How about Kristoff?"

"Bonnie, no. Stop. You're not allowed to name him after any of your lame children's films."

"Hans? Sven? Olaf? ...Elsa?"

"Ooh yes, a little boy with two Mums called Elsa. He's gonna have so much fun getting the tar beaten out of him by literally every other kid in the entire fucking country. I let you pick names for the kittens and you named them after baking ingredients so we're choosing the baby's name together." Marceline sighed, rolling her eyes. It didn't happen often that Bonnie was the silly one but her ridiculous love of children's animated films was one thing she was unreasonably weird about.

"Fine. Ok, how about Kirk?"

"Mm nah not feeling the love for it."

"Ivar?"

"Nope. Too… just nope."

"Ralph?"

"That's the name of dumb kid on The Simpsons."

"Shelby?"

"Too girly."

"Thor?"

Marceline's eyes lit up.

" _Thor._ Oh my God, Bon, that's amazing! Why didn't I think of that? Thor. That's perfect!"

"I only suggested it because I'd run out of Viking names! We can't name him Thor, he's like, the lamest of all the Avengers!" Bonnie replied, horrified that Marcy seemed to really like probably the second most stupid name she'd suggested all evening.

"None of those were even Viking names anyway. And the lame Avenger is Hawkeye. Hey Bon? Let's call him Nathaniel."

Bonnie took a moment to try to work out Marceline's slightly sideways thought process. Something about Hawkeye and the Avengers? It was probably some nerdy comic book thing; Marcy was still an incurable comic nerd. Bonnie shrugged, she had no idea where the name had come from but it was certainly better than Thor anyway.

"Actually that is a lovely name. Nathaniel. He could be a Nate for short."

"Nathaniel Thor Abadeer. He sounds like a world champion at something." Marcy muttered sleepily, eyes sliding closed again. Bonnie would have argued but it was the longest Marceline had gone without being sick all day and she finally seemed comfortable so Bonnie just let her drowse and enjoy her foot rub.

...

"Do you think," Marcy asked over dinner the next evening, "that maybe we should consider putting this place on the market and buying a bigger house?"

Bonnie looked around, surprised. That was pretty left field.

"But you love this house. You always call it out witches' cottage. I've just managed to get the roses properly established in the garden and we remodelled the whole kitchen and bathroom last year, they're brand new. And it's a four bedroom, it isn't exactly small." Bonnie replied with a frown.

"Ok, I guess? But I dunno, isn't moving somewhere bigger something you're supposed to do when you have kids?" Marcy asked.

"Where's this coming from, love? I thought we were perfectly settled here. It's a good neighbourhood, it's a nice sized house. It's got a lovely big garden that I've spent a lot of time on and it's close to all the good schools. Where could we move that'd be better than here to have kids?"

Marcy shrugged and looked down at her salad, poking it unenthusiastically with her fork.

"I dunno, I guess I just feel like we should make a fresh start for the baby. Maybe move to a converted farm or something so he has plenty of space to run around and play. We're right on the edge of the city here and there's a busy road just around the corner. Is it completely safe?"

"Sweetie, the people next door have three teenagers that they've raised from newborns and there's been a bus route around the corner as long as they've been here. And nothing terrible has happened. You grew up in the middle of the city yourself and never once got hit by a bus. The whole point of moving into this lovely big house was that it would be perfect for raising a family in. It's a great house in a great area close to all our friends and family and our jobs, why go through all the stress of an unnecessary move?" Bonnie asked gently.

"I dunno. I just, I feel like it's something we should at least consider. Like we're letting the baby down if we don't make sure he has the most perfect home in the entire world."

"Do you think it's maybe a little possible that you're worrying over nothing?"

Marcy shrugged again.

"Probably. I just wanna make sure we do this right. I want him to have a happy childhood and the best possible start in life. Like, now I can totally see how the whole Tiger Moms craze has taken off, you know? I can't help worrying about him already. What if he gets hurt? Or lost? What if there are bad influences around here, someone who might hurt him? What if-"

Bonnie cut her off by sliding around the table and pulling her into a hug.

"Shh, you're worrying needlessly. Are you gonna eat that salad or just shred it?" she asked quietly. Marcy sighed and put down her fork then wrapped her arms around her girlfriend in an answering hug.

"Just shred it, I think. I feel kinda queasy again." she murmured quietly in reply.

"Come on then, love. You go get comfortable on the sofa and I'll bring you some more ginger tea. You made a good enough stab at eating for right now."

Marcy made a face but got up and wandered across to the sofa anyway, slumping down with her eyes closed against the churning in her stomach. She was very acutely aware that she was worrying over nothing but ever since she'd seen those two blue lines on the pregnancy test the whole world had changed, shifted into a dimension of fear where every tiny thing could potentially hurt the baby. Every stranger was a threat, every bathroom break a roulette of heart stopping fear because what if she looked down and discovered that she was bleeding, what if she lost the baby? Her own mother wasn't around to ask any more so if there was a family history of miscarriage she'd have no idea. And there was absolutely no way she was asking her father or telling him about the pregnancy yet. Their relationship might be a lot better these days than it had been when she was younger but she couldn't bear to see any kind of grief or loss on his face again, not after everything they'd gone through when her mother had run away to die. And there was nobody else she could ask, her grandmother had passed away years ago and if her father had any relatives he still spoke to she didn't know about them. It had all seemed so simple at the clinic; receive the donation, wait two weeks, do a pregnancy test. But now there was a whole world of new fears opening up that she hadn't even considered. And as comforting as she was Bonnie just didn't understand. She was all logic and reason and would definitely disapprove of the steps Marceline had taken to make herself feel a little calmer.

Marcy was perfectly aware that her girlfriend thought she was a bit stupid for her beliefs sometimes, which was why Bonnie didn't know about the tiny chips of moonstone Marcy had put around the house in small unobtrusive places. They were to help cleanse the atmosphere of negative energy and detox the auras of anyone who came into the building. Just knowing that they were there made Marcy feel calmer. Bonnie didn't believe in the healing qualities of crystals; one of their earliest and most vicious arguments had been about Marceline's 'unscientific' beliefs not too long after they first started dating and it had almost ended them. So she wasn't in any rush for her rational, scientific girlfriend to discover she'd unpacked the extensive collection of healing crystals she'd inherited from her mother and had hidden them all over the house. She was carrying around a smooth pebble of yellow jasper too, it helped with the nausea. Marceline slipped her hand into her pocket and rolled it comfortingly against her palm. No, Bonnie didn't need to know about the crystals. With the way she was feeling since the hormones had kicked in Marceline didn't know if her reaction to getting yelled at would be to scream back or just curl up and cry and she wasn't in any rush to find out. She accepted her mug of ginger tea with a wrinkled nose but sipped at it anyway. Bonnie had remedies for morning sickness and Marcy had her own. Whatever helped; she wasn't about to get too hung up on why something worked or didn't work. She just cared that it made her feel better. Still the yellow jasper sometimes felt like a heavy weight against her thigh, a guilty secret she wasn't keen to be discovered any time soon.

...

"Good morning, beautiful. We need more kiwi."

That wasn't her usual morning greeting. Usually the kitchen was occupied only by Cinnamon at that time of the morning. Bonnie blinked sleepily and pushed her hair out of her eyes, frowning at the scene that greeted her. Marceline was awake and dressed and sitting at the breakfast bar surrounded by kiwi peel. It wasn't quite seven in the morning and it was Bonnie's day off so neither of them had any real reason to be up yet. She always got up early anyway because she liked to do some yoga stretches first thing and Marcy usually slept until ten. Even then her brain didn't completely wake up until lunch time usually.

And there was so much kiwi peel. It looked like Marceline had eaten all six of the kiwis Bonnie had bought yesterday along with the other fruit to try and find a combination her fussy girlfriend would actually drink in a smoothie. At not quite seven in the morning on a Saturday. Bonnie just blinked in confusion, wondering if she was having a really weird dream.

"I couldn't sleep because I was too hungry and I read this thing online about how if you get up early enough then you can trick your body into not vomming up your breakfast because the baby isn't awake yet to make you sick, and have you ever noticed how kiwi is the most delicious thing ever?" Marcy asked brightly, practically bouncing in her seat.

"That's not how any of it works, but ok. I think you have food cravings already, probably because you've got morning sickness really early." Bonnie replied thickly. Her throat was still fuzzy and she was pretty useless first thing until she'd had her coffee.

"Can we get some more kiwi? Please? It's the only thing I can eat." Marcy whined, pouting and fluttering her eye lashes. Bonnie groaned.

"What you mean is 'please will you drive to the twenty four hour supermarket right the way across town and buy me some more kiwis' because you know the local shop isn't open for another hour."

"Please babe?" Marcy wheedled, standing and wrapping Bonnie in a hug. "I promise to be the most fun and lovely girlfriend ever and I'll even come to the pub with you and the boys and Lady tonight even thought I can't drink anything. Please? You know driving stresses me out and I need to avoid stress, because of the baby."

"Fine." Bonnie relented with a long suffering sigh. "But I'm not getting changed for it; they can deal with me in yoga pants and a hoodie."

"You're my hero!" Marcy beamed, kissing her cheek enthusiastically with sticky kiwi lips.

"Kiss ass." Bonnie muttered, slouching off into the hall to get her car keys and shoes.

Seven in the morning on a Saturday should have been the one time of the week when Bonnie could be certain she'd have the supermarket to herself, but of course that turned out to be horse crap too. Something tiny and incredibly loud tackled her leg with a squeal a moment before something only a little bigger barrelled into her other side and hugged her far too hard. They resolved into the two eldest Madigan children, clinging happily to a leg each and grinning up at her with huge sugar crazed eyes.

"Hey Aunty Bonnie! Are you shopping? Is Aunty Marcy here too? Can we come home with you and pet the cats? MUM! GUESS WHO'S HERE!" Kim finished at a full scream, tugging her hand in one direction while his little sister babbled excitedly on her other side. Bonnie didn't know where to look first.

"Aunty Bonnie did you get the postcard we sended you from the seaside? I fixed it with Daddy and he helped me draw a picture of Cinnamon and Peppermint and Daddy made special pancakes for breakfast this morning!" Charlie sang happily while she dangled heavily from the sleeve of Bonnie's hoodie.

"Good morning guys, how about we use our indoor voices?" Bonnie whispered to them both. She tried to gently extricate her hands from their sticky grip but they clung on tightly, especially Kim who was trying to tow her down the salad aisle presumably to present to his mother like a lost puppy. Lady's face appeared around the end of the fruit and veg section, eyebrows raised curiously, and she came to claim her excitable offspring with a bewildered smile.

"Weird time of the day for it." she greeted her friend with a much more restrained hug, careful not to disturb baby Violet who was strapped to her chest. "Had a kiwi emergency, did we?"

Lady's suspicious gaze flickered across Bonnie's basket which contained nothing but six packs of kiwis and a packet of gum for herself. She fidgeted with the handle nervously, she didn't like the idea of deceiving their friends but Marceline had been very firm that she didn't want anyone to know about the pregnancy until they were out of the dangerous first twelve weeks. If something awful happened then all of their friends looking at her with sympathy in their eyes would make it a thousand times harder for her; she didn't handle sympathy well from anyone but Bonnie.

"Yeah, Marcy's trying some weird new fad diet and you know how she gets if I don't play along." Bonnie replied with an expertly acted eye roll. "We absolutely could not survive for a second longer without kiwi and she hates driving and I'm completely whipped for her. So here I am in my PJs buying a basketful of kiwis far too early on my Saturday off."

Lady laughed and rolled her eyes too; it wasn't a bad cover story. In fact it was entirely in character for Marceline to randomly decide to eat nothing but kiwi and then to demand that Bonnie drive to the supermarket at an ungodly hour of the weekend to buy them for her. She could be really highly strung sometimes, such a drama queen.

"I told you, that woman would have you jumping through rings of fire if she gave you the right smile. You're beyond whipped for her." Lady sighed. "You're such a sucker for a pretty face; you should have coupled up strictly for food like me. At least we'll never starve with Jake bringing home the bread. I mean literally, they were testing some sundried tomato baguettes at the restaurant yesterday and he brought five of them home. Kim, put that down! We are not buying a coconut!"

Kim looked around guiltily and threw the coconut he'd been examining back into the display. It immediately bounced out and rolled across the floor causing him and Charlie to chase after it yelling at the top of their lungs again.

"I better go before they destroy something expensive." Lady sighed, watching her eldest son and daughter crawl under the display cabinet to retrieve the wayward coconut. "I'll see you at the pub tonight; hopefully we can calm this lot down before Joshua comes to watch them."

"Bye Aunty Bonnie! Say hello to the cats from us!" Kim yelled, waving furiously from where Lady was fishing him out from under a chiller full of pre-prepared salad bags.

Bonnie paid for the kiwis and gum contemplatively and drove home the long way because she wanted a minute alone to think. Pretty soon she would be the harassed mother chasing her kid all over the supermarket while they tried to break stuff and put their fingers in everything. It wasn't exactly an uncomfortable thought, but she wasn't completely certain she wanted to be permanently sticky and careworn like Lady either. Still, Lady had conceived five babies in seven years; she had her hands five times more full than Bonnie would. In the end she gave up as a bad job, deciding that it was entirely too easy to draw the wrong conclusions when viewing someone else's family dynamic from the outside. Lady seemed happy even if she was always exhausted. They'd just have to wait and see how the baby fit into their lives and deal with any problems when they arose. She was feeling much more positive about it by the time she got home and handed over a pack of fresh kiwis to a thrilled Marceline.


	4. Week 4

**As ever, love and kisses to everyone who took the time to review/follow etc. It's probably pretty obvious from the title and the fact that each chapter is set during each week, but this is gonna be a long fic. That means that the dramatic points are gonna be a bit spaced out. It's not all gonna be sunshine and roses but there is gonna be a lot of fluffy and sweet scenes. After all the dark stuff I've been working on recently I wanted to write something that was happier, where my characters had good stuff to look forward to instead of having dark dramatic stuff happen to them.**

 **This chapter features a brief cameo from the donut witch and as with the last chapter I'm not poking fun at anyone's beliefs, just at the kind of bad spelling leafletters who frequent the park near me and have accosted me when I'm out with my goddaughter on more than one occasion. Some of the things they advocate border on hate speech and I'm pretty sure they've been reported multiple times already. Anyway, they're in here.**

 **Shoutout to the awesome Softballa13tondalayo who may well have called one of the plot points a** **lready, you'll have to wait a few more weeks before you find out if you're right though. Onwards to week four!**

 **Content warning: morning sickness (if you find that upsetting this is definitely not the fic for you tbh), emotions, mild references to getting freaky.**

* * *

"Y'know, if you drink this ginger tea for long enough it starts to taste pretty good."

"Really?"

"Nah, it's still crap. But I'm keeping it down so it's gotta be good for me, yeah?"

"The important thing is that you're staying hydrated. You gonna be ok with the kids?"

"Yeah, I feel a ton better than yesterday. And I can always call Finn if I need to, he's off shift today and he said he didn't have any plans."

Bonnie surveyed her critically and Marceline tried to smile as winningly as possible. She was still being sick a lot, worse and worse every day. But she had solemnly promised Jake and Lady's older kids to take them to the park before school started again. And there wasn't much for her to do at work yet, not until the new intake of undergrads turned up starry eyed and green as grass. She had an Orchestral Artistry postgrad group to tutor but they were still putting the finishing touches to the set list they were presenting for their Guildhall recital, she wasn't going to be needed for rehearsals for a couple of weeks yet. And most of her first term lectures were already written and ready to be presented, they hadn't really changed any from the last time she'd presented them. Not much ever changed year to year in the life of a classical music lecturer, it wasn't like Mozart had written any new symphonies she needed to catch up with over the summer.

Bonnie pressed a quick kiss against her cheek before they left the house together and drove over to Jake and Lady's place. Marceline was babysitting for the day since she had nothing else planned; Jake was solo cheffing while his business partner was away and Lady had been in court all week, prosecuting a tax fraudster that Finn had arrested. They'd all laughed about the coincidence but it wasn't the first time that Lady had ended up sitting opposite one of his arrestees. She'd even ended up calling him as a witness a couple of times during her legal career.

It was still early but the kids would almost certainly be up already. Kim especially was a very early riser; Jake swore it must come from Lady's side of the family because he could happily sleep until past noon if left undisturbed. Marcy sympathised with that; it hadn't been unusual back in the days when they'd been roommates for them both to only stumble out of their respective beds and have breakfast in the middle of the afternoon.

"Call me on your lunch break?" Marcy asked Bonnie before she slid out of the car.

"Sure, but if you don't pick up I'll assume Charlie ate you or you're having some other kind of small Madigan related disaster. Have a good day. Love you."

"You too, babe. Love you too."

They shared a brief kiss before she let herself out of the car and watched Bonnie drive off in the direction of the hospital. The redhead was tense that morning, still having an ongoing low key argument with Dr King over his unprofessional attitudes and trying to negotiate a permanent contract for their receptionist Lydia who was an invaluable asset to the oncology team. Marcy wished there was something she could do to help; she'd run a bubble bath for Bonnie coming home from work the night before but the redhead had been delayed with paperwork and by the time she'd gotten back it was cold. Marcy was sure she appreciated the gesture anyway, though.

"You know what?" she asked her stomach conversationally as they walked up Jake's garden path, "We're gonna coordinate and stop your Mama working herself to death, you and me. We'll tag team her with cuteness and guilt trip her with cuddles until she stops being such a massive stress head, yeah?"

Her stomach growled in response but she just grinned, taking that as a 'yes'. She'd barely gotten her hand back from ringing the doorbell before the front door of the cottage was thrown open and Charlie was grinning up at her.

"DADDY! AUNTY MARCY IS HERE!"

"Good morning to you too, monkey. Shouldn't you be dressed already?" Marcy asked at a much more appropriate volume for early in the morning. Charlie didn't reply, she just grinned again and pirouetted, the better to show off her mermaid pyjamas.

"IMMA PRINCESS!" she yelled over her shoulder as she stampeded back up the hall to the kitchen.

Marceline had always loved Jake and Lady's house. Ever since they'd moved in with baby Kim when he'd only been three months old it had been filled with the cheerful kind of chaos that small children bring. The house was old and crooked and full of love; a comforting place to visit when the occasional low mood took her. It was hard to feel sad for long when Junior was trying to make an ice cream and Marcy hair sandwich or Charlie wanted to give her a makeover with her felt tip pens. Marcy had always been close to Jake, they'd been best friends since they were sixteen. Most everyone had thought they'd been dating for most of their time at college, a fact Jake still found hilarious even all those years later. She was godmother to his kids too and took the role very seriously. He often joked that he still hadn't forgiven her for introducing him to Lady so she better pay him back in free babysitting; he knew she was always happy to do it.

Little TV came crawling out of the living room doorway closely followed by his Mum, who picked up the baby and dropped a kiss on Marcy's cheek when she saw her.

"Morning, I heard Charlie yelling but I wasn't sure you were actually here or if it was another one of her games." Lady told her as she wiped baby food from her son's face. "We'll take Junior and the twins to nursery and you've got the older two all to yourself until three, Jake's finished early today."

"I did promise them the park actually, there's a temporary paddling pool for little ones and I rather thought they'd enjoy running around terrorising the staff. See if we can't tire them out before they come home." Marcy replied with a fond smile and a wave for TV who was staring up at her like he'd never seen her before.

"Paddling pool?" Kim's head popped around the kitchen door, still covered in whatever sticky breakfast foods his father had been feeding him.

"That's right little dude, but you gotta help you Daddy load the dishwasher first and clean your teeth. They don't let naughty boys into the paddling pool." Marcy told him solemnly. Kim's eyes widened and he disappeared back into the kitchen.

"DAD I'LL LOAD THE DISHWASHER!"

"No, Kim, those are heavy-"

Marceline winced when something large crashed to the floor in the kitchen and set Violet off wailing again.

"Sorry, that one's on me." she muttered to Lady.

"Easily done, Kim's very enthusiastic." Lady replied with an eye roll. "Hold TV?"

She passed the baby across and hurried after her eldest son into the kitchen. Marcy bounced TV a couple of times, secretly delighting in having an excuse to hold him.

"And good morning to you too, Travis-Vincent."

She looked around to make sure nobody was listening; the clean-up operation in the kitchen was noisy and made worse by Charlie's continued insistence that she was a princess and princesses absolutely did not lift their feet up so Daddy could sweep up the egg shells and broken crockery. Nobody was paying attention to anything that was happening in the hall.

"Can you keep a secret, TV?" Marcy whispered to him. "You're gonna be a big cousin."

The baby stared at her almost like he understood what she'd told him and she grinned back.

"See I'm not supposed to tell anyone yet in case something goes wrong and it doesn't happen, but I reckon I'm safe from you upsetting me with well-meaning sympathy in that scenario, aren't I little guy?"

TV gurgled in reply and reached out to pet her face. She pressed a gentle kiss onto his head and took a quick breath of the unique baby smell that he and Violet still shared then stepped around the doorway into the still chaotic kitchen.

"It was an accident! Please let me go to the paddling pool!" Kim howled when he saw her, hugging her legs tightly and making it difficult to walk.

"Oh honey I know it was, of course you can still go." she replied fondly, crouching down to his level to look the little boy in the eye. Kim sniffed a couple of times before allowing himself to be hugged and have his fine black hair ruffled.

"Still such a trouble maker. You'll have him wearing eyeliner and a Cradle of Filth t-shirt any day now." Jake sighed at her from where he was picking up the last of the eggshells and shards of shattered plate from under the table, but he broke character with a laugh a moment later. "Here, coffee's just brewed." he added.

"Nah, I'm good thanks." Marceline lied, straightening up and sending Kim on his way. "I had some before I left the house."

She desperately wished she had, the coffee smelled divine and for once it didn't seem to be setting off her morning sickness. But even though the healthcare websites she'd been looking at said a small cup of coffee once a day was perfectly fine she didn't want to risk Bonnie's wrath by contradicting her medical opinion. Bonnie said no coffee so she supposed she was off it for the full nine months. She could have drank decaf but really what was the point? It didn't taste the same and the best part of coffee was that caffeine made mornings more bearable. Besides nothing smelled or tasted as good as Jake's ridiculously expensive Italian barista blend, she would just have to deal with the lack of caffeine for now. Marcy laid a hand stealthily against her stomach; she'd have given up coffee forever if she had to.

"I've got some kiwis if you're still fad dieting." Jake added with another grin as he tipped the last of the broken plates into the bin.

"What?"

"Your new diet? Bonnie told us you're eating kiwis as part of some weird new diet? I dunno man; it must be working because if you get any skinnier you'll disappear. You're more like a tall dark stick insect than ever." he replied with a shrug.

"I should try that, see if I can melt off some of the left over baby weight from the twins." Lady added with a sigh.

"Oh, my new kiwi diet. Right." Marceline mumbled uncomfortably. Bonnie had mentioned she'd run into Lady and the kids at the supermarket last week, she must have used that as her cover for buying so many kiwis. Would have been helpful if she'd let Marcy know though she thought, a little annoyed.

"Right, Charlie, princesses don't get to sit around in their pyjamas all day and Mummy needs to get ready for work. I've got a very long day in court and I need to go soon." Lady was telling her daughter. Charlie sulked visibly.

"Hey, how about we go up to your bedroom and I help you pick out some cool princess clothes?" Marcy asked her instead. Charlie's little face lit up.

"Ok! Are you gonna be a princess too?" The little girl cast a sceptical eye over Marceline's black t-shirt and comfy jeans combo, making the adults share a quiet look and smile over her small head.

"Nah, I wouldn't want to distract anyone from the real princess, your Highness." Marcy replied with a little bow. Charlie giggled and jumped up, towing her godmother from the kitchen almost before she had chance to pass TV back to Jake.

…

It was a hot late August day and despite expecting to become more sensitive to the heat during her pregnancy Marceline hadn't thought it would start so early. She gratefully took a seat under a large parasol by the paddling pool and made sure she was close enough to the edge to watch Charlie and Kim like a hawk. It was still quite early; they'd stayed home and watched cartoons until about ten but even after a snack and a slow wander down to the park there were barely any other kids around. Luckily the water in the pool only came up to Kim's knees but Marceline still had paranoid worries that something would happen to one of them, she watched them carefully as they splashed around happily.

"Kim, put your sun hat back on please." she called to him when she noticed he was throwing it up and down like a frisbee instead of wearing it. He sulked but did what she told him anyway. He switched instead to waving his arms above his head and chasing Charlie who yelled excitedly and splashed off to the other end of the pool.

"Oh they're lovely, are they twins?"

Marcy looked around, unsure for a moment if the stranger was addressing her or someone else. There was an older looking woman with a very hunched back sitting at the table next to her, looking her up and down appraisingly.

"They're a year apart." she told the stranger uncomfortably, not liking the way she was eyeing her or her godchildren. Probably it was bad stereotype but she was just a touch nervous of creepy older people who hung around children's play areas.

"They're a credit to you and your husband." the old woman replied with a thin smile. Marcy sighed internally; just when she thought she was done having to explain herself to creeps.

"Um, I don't have a husband. I'm their godmother." Marcy mumbled, looking around to where Charlie was now trying to clamber onto her brother's back and wishing desperately that the odd stranger would stop talking to her and go somewhere else.

"Ah, a godmother. Of course, you don't really seem old enough to have two school aged children. Forgive me. A godmother is such an important influence, someone to help raise them in Christ." the woman continued, oblivious to her small eye roll. "We're actually putting together a group of like-minded families at the community centre around the corner, bringing children of Christ together for an after school worship group. I never married myself but I suspect a single young lady like you could find herself quite the catch if she were in the market for a good husband. Would you like a pamphlet?"

Marceline wanted to tell the strange woman that she was actually a year older than Lady and that if she had school aged children or not was none of her damn business. Also that she was atheist and gay and coming up to random people in the park and trying to pressgang them into her church group was weird and uncomfortable. Especially that she shouldn't assume every woman without a ring on her finger was just dying to find a good husband. But her old social awkwardness was rearing its head again and instead of all that she just nodded weakly and let the stranger press a pamphlet into her hands. The woman smiled in satisfaction and shuffled off to harass the young couple at the next table, leaning heavily on a walking cane as she went.

Marceline looked down at the pamphlet. It was one of those cheap, home printed types that had been folded in a hurry and looked to have had only a passing acquaintance with a spell check or proof reader.

 _THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST AND HIS BROHTERS_

 _All across the globe a New christianity is rissing and you can be part of the Love of Christ too. Let Him light your darknes dayly by casting out Sin and rejoycing in the love of our LORD Jesus. REPENT and you will be Saved._

She looked up to check the kids were alright before curiously flipping the pamphlet open to check the inside. It looked like a crazy cult of some kind and she wasn't disappointed by the rest of the pamphlet.

 _Join with us and help destroy Enemies of CHIRST! The Goverment wants to push the Homosexual Atheist Adenga into our SCHOOLS and homes, they want to take away your right to raise your children and GODFEARING christians. THE Goverment wants to let GAYS and MUSLIMS and PEDOPHILES teach your children that their sins are natural and normal, to deny them a place in Gods Heaven._

 _WE MEET EVERY THURSDAY AT ROSE HILL COMUNITY CENTER ALL WELCOME BRING YOURE FAMILIES._

"Aunty Marcy, Kim hit me."

Charlie's sob had her hurriedly stuffing the stupid pamphlet into her bag and crouching right down on her knees to hug the little girl who was holding her arm out with tears running down her face. Her older brother was hovering guiltily in the background.

"Oh honey, come on, let me see. Oh yes, you're gonna get a little bruise aren't you, sweetheart? Let's kiss it better then." Marcy murmured, gently moving Charlie's hand away from what looked like an angry red slap mark on the middle of her forearm and pressing a very soft kiss against it. Charlie wrapped her arms around her godmother's neck and cried harder, not resisting at all when Marceline straightened up and backed onto the seat, cradling Charlie and humming comfortingly to her.

"It was an accident." Kim mumbled, coming forwards with guilt written all over his face. "She was spinning and I thought she was gonna fall so I put my hand out to stop her and she went into it really fast."

"Kim, you've gotta be careful. She's a lot smaller than you." Marceline sighed, holding one arm out so he could join in the hug. Kim looked like he might cry too and they had both been splashing around in their bathing costumes which were soaking wet so now Marcy was soaking wet as well. She didn't mind though, she'd dry out quick enough in the hot summer sun.

"Shh, hey, come on guys. It was an accident. Do you think an ice cream might make you feel better?"

Charlie nodded, wiping her eyes with little hands while Kim reached up to hug her.

"I'm sorry, Charlie." he told her. "Aunty Marcy, can I get the ice creams for Charlie?"

"Sure thing, sweetie. Here's some money, get whatever you want from the ice cream van over there, ok? I'll be right here."

She gave Kim a handful of change and watched him wander across to the small queue in front of the ice cream van, hand in hand with his little sister who was still sniffling a little. Marceline watched them go and without any warning at all she was overcome with a wave of protective love for them both. They'd both been such gorgeous little babies, only a few hours old the first time she'd met them. And now they were so grown up, Kim especially was such a sweet and protective big brother. Quite against her will tears were welling in the corners of her eyes as she watched him hand an ice cream cone down to his shorter sister. They were just so cute and so innocent. Marceline's hands were unconsciously holding her stomach; she couldn't help but think about her own baby and if he'd be a wonderful big brother like Kim was. Because there was no way they were just having one, no way at all. She wasn't about to let her baby grow up all alone like she'd been as a child.

"Aunty Marcy, why are you crying?" Kim asked in concern as they wandered back towards her with identical sticky ice cream smears around their mouths.

"Because I just love you guys so much." she replied a little damply. "And because sometimes grownups spend so much time worrying about things that they don't stop to appreciate how wonderful the people around them are. And I think you and Charlie are pretty wonderful."

"Are you happy-sad? Mummy cries when she gets happy-sad too. Because she said she loves us lots and sometimes it makes her cry." Charlie told her with as much concern as a five and a half year old could muster. "We got you an ice cream. Don't cry."

Kim held out the third ice cream cone he'd bought for her proudly. It was dripping steadily onto the few leftover coins he was holding, making everything sticky.

"That's right sweetie, I'm happy-sad because you guys are so wonderful that you even bought me an ice cream." Marcy sniffed with a smile. Charlie giggled for no real reason and stuck her nose right into her own half melted ice cream, making her godmother laugh. "You're such a funny little monkey princess, Charlie."

...

That evening in bed Marceline was running through the whole incident over again and trying to work out if there was a way to keep her unpredictable emotions from turning her into a human fountain in public for the rest of her pregnancy. Probably not, she figured. But what was the point in having a tame doctor if she wasn't going to abuse their medical knowledge whenever she wanted to know something? She turned to where Bonnie was engrossed in some medical text or other and sidled a little closer, resting her head on her partner's shoulder.

"I ended up crying in the park with the kids today. They were just too cute and I loved them too much and then I was crying. I don't even know how it happened; Kim had to buy me an ice cream before I'd stop blubbing." Marcy murmured, frowning at the book over Bonnie's shoulder and trying to figure out in her head how 'alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma' might be pronounced.

"Oh love, did your hormones go nuts again?" Bonnie asked distractedly after a moment, still staring at her book with a thoughtful frown on her face.

"Yeah, I think so. Babe, I feel like such a mess right now. I'm up, I'm down, I'm crazy horny, I'm angry, moody, whatever. Is this gonna go on for much longer?"

Bonnie put her book on her lap after a moment and turned to look at her girlfriend.

"Pretty much, yeah. I'm sorry, love. Even after the baby's here it's gonna take a while for your hormones to get back to normal." she replied seriously.

"How long? I mean, roughly?" Marcy asked with a worried frown.

"I dunno, about twenty years? Maybe more?"

Bonnie squeaked in surprised when her girlfriend launched herself across the bed and landed on top of her, knocking the book onto the floor with a thud. Marcy pressed an enthusiastic kiss onto her lips and grinned at her like she'd done something terribly funny.

"I bet you think you're so clever, worrying me like that. Well joke's on you, gorgeousness. Cause my hormones are going mental _right now_ and I'm on an up. And I'm not feeling moody or sleepy anymore and I'm not angry and you know what that means."

"Ooh no, that only leaves crazy horny again." Bonnie grinned back, wiggling a little more comfortably so she was stretched out beneath her girlfriend. She was perfectly ok with that; it was a Friday night so they could stay up for hours if that's what Marceline wanted.

"See? You worked it out right away, I knew you were a genius! A very sexy genius too, have I ever told you that?" Marcy asked around the kisses she was trailing down Bonnie's throat and across her collar bones.

"Mm, once or twice. You might have mentioned that you find me physically attractive a couple of times, but I'd totally be open to hearing it again."

"You're so hot! Like, hotter than a supervolcano on the sun, that's how hot. But even hotter."

"There aren't any volcanoes on the sun, love. It's made of superheated gas."

"Getting less hot every time you try to argue about how hot you are though, babe."

Bonnie rolled her eyes with an embarrassed smile. Even after all that time Marcy still managed to make her blush like a school girl sometimes.

"Ok, fine, I get it. There's something messed up in your weird head and despite all the evidence to the contrary you think I'm hot. I'm pretty sure it's just the baby hormones talking right now though." she replied around her blush.

"Or, how about you just stop being mean about yourself and let me just show you how hot I think you are?"

So Bonnie did just that, and let her girlfriend appreciate her as much as she wanted to. After the horribly stressful day she'd had it was wonderful to just switch her busy brain off and relax in Marcy's arms, just feel for a while instead of thinking. As they were finally drifting off to sleep Bonnie drowsily thought that they should have had a baby years ago, if that was how close it brought them. She felt very connected to her partner, very loved.


	5. Week 5

**I'd like to start this chapter with an absolutely huge apology for the delay. There's a pretty weak and feeble excuse, I've been pretty ill, but genuinely I am sorry and wish I could make it up to you guys. So literally, anything you want to see included in this fic, or as a one shot, or a stand alone, anything else at all, please please just let me know and I'll write it. As an apology. And because I like writing requests. (Drop it here in a review/PM or hit my oft neglected tumblr, pplleessiioossaauurr).**

 **Do you know what's weird, though? My best friend from college just told me that she's five weeks pregnant. Oh man, I'm starting to get a little worried I might be a tiny bit psychic without realising it. But I'm so excited about being an aunty again! You'd probably worked it out already, but I do genuinely love small kids.**

 **Content Warning: moody mood swings, discomfort with the specifics of what happens on cancer wards. Sorry, it's gonna have some hospital bits in.**

* * *

Marceline had really been hoping that pregnancy mood swings were an over-exaggerated stereotype. But of course they weren't, and she was angry about it. And upset. And so _angry._ She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the awful raging fury trying to fizz through her veins. Bonnie was trying to be helpful, Bonnie didn't have any personal experience with what being pregnant felt like, Bonnie had no idea that she was being the most annoying fucking person on the entire planet right then or that Marcy had only the very thinnest control over her temper.

"Are you gonna just sit there for the whole afternoon?"

 _Bite your tongue and don't explode, breathe calm, you're totally in control of your emotions, you're an adult, you're not gonna explode-_

"Marceline, are you even listening to me?"

And there it was; she was pushed way past what she could take. Abruptly internal screaming became an explosion of extremely external screaming.

"I'M TRYING TO STAY FUCKING CALM IF YOU WOULD JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR A MINUTE!"

 _Oh wow yeah great job being in control, you total asshole._

And then the anger dissolved as quickly as it had appeared and tears came instead. She was doubled over with the strength of her sobs, curled around her stomach protectively and shaking with the depth of her sudden misery. She wasn't sure what she was expecting her girlfriend to do, storm out or tell her she deserved it, probably. That's what she felt like she deserved anyway. But Bonnie just slid onto the sofa next to her and pulled her into a hug, letting Marcy half sprawl across her and cry herself dry before she tried to talk more.

"I wish there was something I could do to help. I feel like I'm watching you self-destruct here." the redhead said quietly, stroking her hair comfortingly.

"I hate hormones." Marcy replied damply around the end of her tears. "I know you're just trying to help and I know I can't just sit on the sofa in my PJs all day. And the stupid weather isn't helping, I wish it'd just rain and get it over with. It's too hot and sticky. I want to get up and do things but I don't feel like I have the energy for anything."

"Not even sitting in the car and going for a drive?" Bonnie asked gently.

"Yeah, maybe that."

Marcy risked a small smile and Bonnie smiled in reply, wiping the last of her tears away gently and pressing soft kisses onto her eyelids.

"There now, no more crying, ok? You're just feeling crappy because of hormones and I'm sure a change of scenery will do you a world of good. Let's go for a drive."

She allowed herself to be pulled up off the sofa and unenthusiastically slouched to the bedroom to get changed.

It was the first week of September and a Sunday; the roads were pretty much deserted. Bonnie turned the car onto the main road leading away from the city and out towards the coast, towards an ominous looking dark cloud massing off to the east. Despite her black mood Marcy found she was smiling just a little when she worked out what her partner had planned.

"We're tornado chasers now?" she asked. Bonnie risked a quick glance at her out of the corner of her eye before she was focussed back on the road.

"Maybe. Storm chasers, anyway. You wanna go up to the coast and see if we can spot any lightning on the waves? Looks like a big one rolling in."

"Is that really how you wanna spend your Sunday afternoon though? Sitting with me in the car watching the rain?" Marcy asked worriedly. It was a comfort thing, something she'd done when she was little and had gone to live with Simon and Betty after her mother died and her father couldn't cope. If she was upset or couldn't sleep they'd just piled into Simon's wheezy old car and driven around for a while, exploring winding country roads and having tiny adventures. Bonnie always suggested it when her partner was feeling down, she was a sweetheart that way.

"You know I love driving around with you, and I love seeing you smile. And what was the point in talking you into letting me buy a really fancy sports car if we're not going to enjoy driving anywhere in it? So yeah, I wanna spent my afternoon sitting in the car with you watching the rain. Maybe even snuggling up under an umbrella if you wanna get out and stretch your legs."

"You're far nicer to me than I deserve." Marcy mumbled, staring out of the window at the last of the suburbs flashing past. Then they were out amongst fields still yellow with the first of the year's crop stubble and dotted with huge round straw bales. If she squinted Marceline could just see the grey-blue line of the sea off in the distance between distant fields and the equally grey clouds on the horizon.

They pulled up on next to a shallow rocky cliff leading to a stone beach just as the first huge rain drops were beginning to drum against the windscreen.

"Hey, we're not gonna get struck by lightning though, right?" Marcy asked apprehensively. The first visible flash of light struck the water miles out to sea, just in front of the ominously glowing horizon. Bonnie pointed to the lighthouse off to their right on the small headland jutting out from the bay.

"Highest point for miles around, love. If you want to get struck by lightning you're gonna have to go stand on top of there and maybe fly a metal kite or something." she replied. "You wanna go down to the beach?"

"Maybe in a bit. This is really cosy, though. Thanks babe."

Marcy unclicked her seat belt and wiggled across as far as she could without sitting on the gear box, leaning up against Bonnie and letting her girlfriend slide her arms around her waist.

"This isn't really comfortable, you know." Bonnie murmured after a few minutes.

"Yeah it is. Perfectly comfortable." Marceline replied with a mischievous smile. Bonnie rolled her eyes but made no attempt to move her. So long as Marcy was comfortable then she could deal with having a shoulder rammed hard against her collarbone.

"Hey, babe? I was thinking about something." Marcy continued after the boom of distant thunder died down. "Do you think we should maybe get married? Like, for the baby? It might make things easier."

"You don't believe in it, I don't believe in it and I don't see why we have to try to fit into a heteronormative right-wing conservative idea of what a family looks like just because it makes life easier for other people. And that was honestly the least romantic proposal in the history of romance." Bonnie replied after a second. Marcy shrugged again, grinding her shoulder even harder against her partner's collarbone and making Bonnie wince.

"Yeah, ok. It was just an idea. We already have all the second-mother legal paperwork ready to rock the second the baby's here. But it'd make Simon happy."

That was true, at least. Marceline's foster father was very keen on young couples getting married in general and the minute marriage equality had been signed into law he'd asked them when he could expect his invitation. He'd been quite disappointed to discover that they had absolutely zero plans to have a wedding. Hunson was rather taken with the idea too, although he usually just acted as though they were already married. Bonnie had lost track of the number of times she'd politely asked him not to call her his daughter in law.

"You wanna go out along the beach a little?" she asked instead. The lightening was still a couple of miles out at sea; they'd be safe enough to wander along the rocks for a while.

"Did you bring the umbrella?" Marcy asked, looking around with a frown.

"Um. No. Guess we're staying in the car." Bonnie sighed.

"Or we're going out anyway and getting soaked because walking in the rain is fun?" Marcy asked hopefully.

"You're the worst influence. The absolute worst. Lady was right, you have me doing completely crazy things for you just because you're gorgeous and amazing. I'm going to catch my death walking around in the rain because you smiled at me."

But the redhead unclicked her seat belt too and slid out of the car anyway. It wasn't a cold rain and it certainly wasn't the craziest thing Marceline had ever talked her into. They picked their way carefully down to the wide rocky shore hand in hand, laughing at the tickle of huge raindrops on bare arms.

"Remember last time we did this?" Marcy grinned at her over the crash of waves on the shore and the tap of rain on the rocks.

"Not really? Which time are you even talking about? I seem to remember the night you couldn't sleep and we went wandering around the park in the rain, or the time we got caught in a hailstorm in Thailand. Or do you mean when you wanted to go see what the storm looked like from the inside near Melbourne?"

"Um, I meant when we took Kim, Charlie and Junior here last summer. But those are all cool memories too. Still can't believe you were worried about piranhas in Australia. Wrong continent, babe."

Bonnie flushed, still embarrassed about that. Geography wasn't her strong point.

"Well at least I wasn't the genius who pulled out her iphone in the middle of a tropical storm to google it and prove me wrong." she retorted.

"They said it was splash proof!"

"I don't think it was designed to be used in the middle of a cyclone, love. Are you feeling any better?"

Marceline sighed and rolled her shoulders, letting the feeling of water on her skin ease away the last of the tension from earlier.

"Yeah, much better. Thank you so much." Marcy replied happily. She stopped walking and tugged her girlfriend in close, wrapping both arms around her and kissing her breathless for a long minute before she continued. "You are the best person in the whole world and I promise, _promise_ , that when I'm less of an emotional wreck I'll look after you, too. Don't think I haven't noticed that you're dropping everything for me right now. I appreciate it more than I can say. And I'm sorry you have to deal with all of my hormonal shit."

"Sweetie, I'd look after you forever if you needed me to. We don't need to be married for me to be totally committed to you, right?"

Marcy was glad it was still raining too heavily to be able to tell the difference between tears and raindrops. Because she didn't want to have to explain that she was still full of hormones and crying happily yet again. They stood together in the rain for a long time, until the storm passed off somewhere to the south and the weak sun returned. Marcy was certain she'd never seen anyone so beautiful as Bonnie right then with her soaked shirt sticking to her skin and her hair tangling in long damp tendrils over her shoulders. Hormones were awful, the absolute worst. But they did mean that she was noticing all kinds of tiny details that she hadn't really looked at for a very long time, like the way the tiny raindrops clung to Bonnie's long golden-blonde eyelashes or the way her skin glowed in the pale sunlight. They'd come back to the beach, Marceline decided. They'd bring the baby, next summer. And when he was old enough she'd tell him all about the day his Mama was the best person in the whole world and took her driving in the rain to cure her hormone sads.

...

"Good afternoon and welcome to classical composition seminar one. For those of you who aren't lucky enough to be in my tutor group and haven't met me yet I'm down on your timetable as Dr Abadeer but you can and will call me Marcy. Anyone who calls me 'Dr Abadeer' and forces me to feel a thousand years old will get an automatic fail on this module. I can see a few people smiling; it's cute that you think I'm joking. This here is one of my postgrads, Keila, and she's gonna be helping out over the stretch of this semester. If you've got a problem and I'm not around ask her or one of the other various postgrads floating around the department. I generally have an open door policy but if you desperately need to get in touch, some kinda cello emergency or something, I do have a personal mobile number available on request. So with all that in mind, let's get started."

Marceline paused for breath and deliberately avoided the gaze of the blonde guy in the back row grinning at her like he was especially clever for gatecrashing her lecture. Madigan boys and their weird love of turning up places they weren't supposed to be. Well she wasn't playing along; if she turned up and started messing with one of his crime scenes he'd be furious and she'd probably get arrested.

"A couple of things to bear in mind for those of you feeling a little daunted by the task; composition can be taught and learned, you don't have to be some magical Mozart-like protégé to master it. Even the best composers use the same tried and tested methods to write their music and we're gonna explore those methods during this module. Most importantly, composition is fun! You're supposed to enjoy it. If you're finding it stressful or difficult take a break and switch your brain off for a while. Like so much of life, if you have to force it out then it's probably shit. So take a step back and let it brew in the back of your brain for a while instead. If you're still stuck come see me and we'll work through it together. Has anyone composed any classical pieces before?"

Most everyone raised a hand, some more confidently than others. Marceline took a moment to make a mental note of the ones who'd never composed before or looked pretty unsure about it because they'd probably need some extra help. This year's intake was pretty small anyway; just nine undergraduates and the three postgrads she was presenting to the Guildhall after Christmas. Hopefully she'd have plenty of time to get to know them all before she went on maternity leave.

"Excellent, most everyone has something they can build from. So what I want now is for you all to break off into groups of threes and throw together a couple of ideas of what you think a short classical showcase piece needs to include and what techniques you can think of to show off your composition skills. Off you go."

The students scrabbled into groups and immediately started loudly dissecting their composition techniques while Marcy slouched over to Finn with a frown on her face.

"Not helping me look any more professional here, bro." she greeted him with as she slid into the seat next to him.

"I tried to call but your phone was off. So I called Bonnie and her phone was off. And I called Lydia and she said 'Dr Sugar's arm deep in some kid's bowel and she's not gonna return a social call right now, stop calling me at work'. So I called your office and your boss said you were in a lecture but I could stop by and catch you before you left." he finished with a shrug.

"I'm gonna go right ahead and assume someone's dying if you're that desperate to contact me on your day off. Why not just leave me a voicemail?" Marcy frowned.

"Nobody's dying. I just wanted to invite you to dinner."

"Dude-"

"No, like _, special_ dinner."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. He always made such a big deal out of stuff that really didn't need to be a big deal.

"Finn, I thought you'd already worked it out. I'm flattered and all but it's time you knew that Bonnie isn't just my housemate. We live together because we're having a romantic relationship. We're what's known as a 'lesbian couple' and that means I don't go to special dinners with guys."

"Shut up, I didn't mean it like that!" he replied, mortified. "Jake's doing a surprise dinner for you at The Treehouse tonight because you two seem so stressed recently and he sent me to make sure you don't go home and start cooking. I left a message for Bonnie too and so long as she doesn't overrun in surgery you're both invited, Jake's treat. He's worried about you. Kim said you were a bit weepy when you took him and Charlie to the park."

"I was just getting a bit of PMS, geez." Marcy muttered, avoiding Finn's eyes. She shrugged uncomfortably; so her mood swings were getting bad enough for a six year old to notice now? And there were still another thirty five weeks to go. Oh hell, she'd have to try much harder to keep things under wraps until they were ready to tell everyone. Finn was peering at her curiously and he had an uncharacteristically soft expression on his face.

"Marcy, are you ok?" Finn asked her quietly. "I know you're dieting again and God knows you don't need to, but you're looking really thin and tired. And you seem so distant just recently. I know Bonnie's been working a lot harder since her promotion, is everything ok at home? Is there anything you wanna talk to me about? You know you can tell me anything and it won't go any further, right?"

"Please don't interrogate me, Finn. I'm fine. Just still got this stupid stomach infection and I'm tired because I'm being sick all hours of the day and night. I promise you man, if something's bothering me you're the first person I'll talk to." she lied carefully.

"Promise promise?"

"Promise promise with a cherry on top. What time are we eating?"

Finn glanced down at his watch. He obviously didn't really believe her but Marceline just couldn't face the idea of telling him yet, and certainly not in the middle of a classical composition seminar. As soon as he knew about the pregnancy she'd apologise as deeply as she knew how for worrying him so much. Until then she'd just have to lie.

"Jake said he'd start as soon as you get there, so just whenever. You wanna finish up with this lot and we'll swing by the hospital and pick up Bonnie?" Finn answered after a minute's thought.

"Good plan. Hopefully she won't still be covered in someone else's guts."

Marceline tried to ignore how the thought of it made her stomach lurch queasily as she stood back up and made her way to the front of the lecture hall, drawing her students' attention as she went.

"Boyfriend?" Keila muttered to her as she passed.

"He should be so lucky. Nah, I only date women." Marcy shrugged.

"Huh, cool. He's cute enough." Keila replied, eyeing Finn appraisingly. That was good, looked like Marcy might be able to distract him by setting him up on a date. She smiled a little slyly to herself; she knew how to manage Finn when he was being nosey.

...

The hospital hadn't had any parking spaces for visitors so Finn stayed in his car and circled around the building while Marceline ducked into the doctor's lounge and tried to spot her girlfriend. Instead she ran into Dr King, always an encounter guaranteed to set her teeth on edge.

"Oh, you're Sugar's, um, partner, right?" he asked, obviously aiming for polite and falling short by quite a long way.

"That's me. I'm Bonnie's _girlfriend_." Marcy replied with a smile that wasn't entirely friendly. He wanted to make things awkward? Fine, she was all kinds of prepared to watch him squirm. "Any idea where she is? I'm taking her for a romantic dinner tonight."

It was worth it just to see the weird shapes his face twisted into as he tried to change his grimace of distaste into a friendly smile.

"She was assisting in surgery this afternoon. They finished a few minutes ago so I imagine she's just cleaning up. She shouldn't be long." he muttered uncomfortably.

"Sweet. Well I'll just go hang around in her office, see if I can catch her with some surprise kisses. Later, Dr K."

She was still grinning fiendishly to herself as she made her way to the elevators in the corridor but she never made it as far as Bonnie's office. A familiar voice called to her just before the doors opened.

"Hey! Marcy! What are you doing here, sweetie, is everything ok?"

Bonnie was hurrying along the corridor towards her, trailed by a couple of wide eyed student doctors. Her face was lined with exhaustion and tension; Marceline tried not to wonder if surgery hadn't gone well or if someone had maybe died or something. It was hard enough living with a cancer doctor when she had her own issues with it because of how her mother had died, she didn't like to hear the tragic details.

"Everything's fine, I was just coming to surprise you. Our ride's outside, apparently Jake decided we were too stressed and needed him to cook us a special dinner so he sent Finn to round us both up. He even closed Treehouse to paying guests for the night, he must be really worried." She glanced around; the students had gone past them into the elevator and nobody else was even looking their way. "I don't think I've been doing my best job of acting normal and stable since we got back from Denmark, Finn at least knows something's up. He keeps asking if everything's ok at home. I think he's worried you're mistreating me or something."

Bonnie glanced around too before sliding closer and carefully resting a hand against her girlfriend's abdomen.

"Are you ok today, love? Do you feel up to it? Because if you'd rather just go home I can fake a medical emergency and we can tell them we'll have fancy dinner another night." she murmured quietly, tired eyes shining with concern.

"I'm fine, actually a lot less ill than I was yesterday. We can go eat at Jake's place, if you want to. Be nice to see everyone." Marcy replied. She wasn't feeling as sick as she had earlier that day so there was a good chance she might even keep her dinner down.

"Alright, if you're sure. Let me run up to my office and get my bag. The paperwork can wait until tomorrow."

It wasn't often that Bonnie neglected her paperwork to do something fun. That and the tension still holding her shoulders rigid told Marceline more than she'd wanted to know about how badly the surgery must have gone. But even though she knew it was selfish and she wasn't being a terribly supportive girlfriend she didn't ask, didn't want to hear about anyone dying or being sick. She'd make it up to Bonnie later, she thought. Make sure she wasn't feeling stressed or upset by the time they went to sleep that night. She didn't have to hear the gruesome details of her work to make her feel better, right? Even in the privacy of her own brain that sounded like a feeble excuse. Marcy shook her head to dispel the thoughts and followed her girlfriend into the elevator. There was no way she'd ask about it right there anyway because if it was something really awful Bonnie wouldn't thank her for making her break down in tears in the middle of the hospital. No, they'd just go and have a nice surprise dinner with their friends and then they'd talk through it all later at home, where she could hug Bonnie and offer emotional support if the redhead needed it. Absolutely, that was one hundred percent what would happen. Probably.


	6. Week 6

_**A true story**_

 ** _Me:_ I'm writing a new fic. _Person_ : hurhur bet it's gonna be porn. _Me:_ no no it's a pregnancy fic it's gonna be cute and stuff. _Person (who knows me very well):_ mm sure I bet your main characters are gonna be shagging like bunnies before you even get out of the first trimester.**

 **So, um, yeah. Naughtiness abounds although it's not really that graphic and mostly just alludes to what's happening. You'll need to use your imagination zones. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review! You are, as always, absolute sweethearts and I'm sending you love and squishy thoughts. And there's a small hat-tip to my dearly departed kitty Mr Bear too, a giant grey tom cat who was shady as fuck and utterly adorable. We miss him terribly but he's almost certainly up in heaven joyfully shedding on all those white angel robes.**

 **Content Warning: pantless lesbians lesbianing, cancer language and treatment (not really a pleasure to research but necessary for this story), yet more Dad rock lyrics. I just like really Queen.**

* * *

Technically Marcy hadn't been wrong that morning when she'd thought to herself that Bonnie could probably sleep through the world ending. Turned out that she couldn't sleep through having her pyjama shorts carefully slid down around her ankles, though.

"Whu- huh? What're y'doing?"

Marceline paused and squinted at her partner through the grey gloom filling their bedroom. It was that indefinite time between very late night and very early morning, only just starting to get light outside. She hadn't been able to sleep yet again.

"Normally I'd say something sarcastic about that being self-evident, but since your brain is probably still half asleep I'll let you off with it just this one time. I'm waking you up in a fun and x-rated way, that alright by you?"

Bonnie smiled sleepily and propped herself up on her elbows.

"Mm, ok then. Pervert." she mumbled, petting Marcy's face fondly. "Carry on."

"See," Marceline continued around the kisses she was now trailing up her girlfriend's thighs and across her lower stomach, "I tried just lying here staring at the ceiling. And that was kinda boring. I thought about getting up but it's like, four or something and way too early still. And then I remembered what the doctor told me about how to beat morning sickness. He said I should eat something while I'm still in bed; it's easier to keep it down that way. And I totally meant to bring a couple of bananas or something upstairs with me last night but then I forgot because y'know, baby brain. So I was trying to think about what else I could eat and then you were lying there looking all sexy and delicious and I thought- hmhmr-"

"You talk too much." Bonnie told her with a long suffering sigh. Marceline didn't reply. There was a hand gently pushing down on the back of her head making sure she was busy doing something else instead, not that she seemed to mind if the enthusiasm she was putting into her task was anything to judge by. Bonnie closed her eyes and settled back into the pillows, letting the attention wipe her mind gloriously blank of the lingering stress nightmares she'd been having all night. They'd been pretty much constant since she'd taken over running the paediatric oncology department and most of them now featured tiny babies with tufts of jet black hair wailing in pain or turning blue around the lips, struggling to breathe. For weeks now every nightmare she'd had ended in her desperately trying to perform CPR on a newborn, flashbacks to the first night they'd met when Marcy had gone into anaphylaxis or a weird mix of both. But Bonnie wasn't thinking about that now, her thoughts were entirely focussed on her amazing girlfriend and the talented lips sending ripples of sensation through her. It didn't take long at all before her muscles were locking up with the first waves of climax and the usual low moan escaped her lips, letting her partner know to ease the pressure and let her finish gently.

"That's a pretty wonderful way to start the day." Bonnie murmured happily as Marcy slid back up the bed and stretched out next to her with a self-satisfied grin. "How are you feeling?"

"Yeah, I'm good thanks." Marceline replied with a sly smile. Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean. How do you feel, pants-wise. Do you want, you know, stuff?"

"Oh my God you're so amazingly awkward! I love it. Yes, I'd totally be up for 'pants stuff'. I mean, assuming you're asking if I want you to take mine off and reciprocate in a sexual manner? Cause that was kinda vague. Are you asking if my pants are comfortable, or what my feelings are about the fabric or the pattern or- _fuck-_ "

"I told you love, you talk too much. Quiet now, I'd very much like to make you feel as good as you make me feel."

Marcy didn't argue, just nodded and bit her lip as her girlfriend's hands slid down the length of her body again.

"Such a bad girl, already undressed before I even woke up." Bonnie murmured into her ear.

"Got too hot, wasn't thinking about this." Marcy managed to reply around her heavy breathing. "Fucking _hell_ , my skin is so sensitive-"

She broke off with a gasp when her partner's lips fastened onto her collarbone at the same second warm hands stroked down to her thighs. Her skin had always been unusually sensitive and it had only gotten more so over the last couple of weeks. She was nearly seeing stars just from a gentle caress.

"Like this? Or you want something more?" Bonnie murmured as her fingertips swirled in slow rhythmic circles.

"This. More's... too much." Marcy panted out in reply. She rocked her hips forwards, pushing against her girlfriend's hand. Lost herself in the sensations that were more overpowering than they'd ever been before, even at the start when everything had been new. When her critical moment came it was abrupt, a sudden tsunami of sensation that crashed over her without any warning. When Marcy finally regained awareness of her surroundings and opened her eyes it was to find Bonnie trailing fingertips languidly up and down her sides and arms, murmuring lovingly to her and pressing soft kisses to her lips. It had been a very long time since things had been intense enough to make her space out like that.

"You're blushing." Bonnie observed with a proud grin.

"It's a sex blush." Marcy muttered, turning her face away.

"It's an embarrassment blush." Bonnie corrected. "It's absolutely adorable, come here and let me snuggle you. You wanna sleep more?"

"Mm, I can try. Thank you for helping with my insomnia."

"You don't need to thank me for sex. I love you, you weirdo."

Bonnie curled over onto her side and pressed a sleepy kiss onto Marcy's cheek before sliding her arms around her girlfriend and settling back into the bed. A couple of minutes later her breathing deepened and evened out as she slid back into sleep. Marceline didn't close her eyes though, just lay very still looking at her partner's face and letting her mind wander. Bonnie was still tense; she'd been frowning and muttering indistinctly in her sleep before Marcy had woken her. But now she seemed more relaxed, more at peace than she had in the last couple of days. Marceline didn't know if it was worries about the pregnancy, work or something else but she was trying to nerve herself up to ask Bonnie about it. Soon, she told herself. She'd ask soon, and be totally prepared to be supportive and loving and not freak out about people with cancer dropping dead all over the place. She shivered unconsciously; that reminded her of something else they needed to sort out before the baby came. They needed to make wills and pick legal guardians in case anything happened to one or both of them. Bonnie would probably want her brother to raise her kids if she died but Marcy was prepared to fight tooth and nail not to allow a weirdo like Ned to have parental control over their son. He lived alone and off grid in a cabin in the woods, he struggled to look after himself most of the time so God only knew how he'd manage with a distressed child. Marceline had a feeling they'd have to pull the baby from her father's cold dead hands before he'd let Bonnie's brother to take his grandson away. If something happened to them then the best thing would probably be if their boy went to live with Jake and Lady. A big happy family that he'd already know well, cousins his own age and loving adoptive parents who'd understand his grief if he'd lost his mothers so young. Yeah, that was pretty much perfect as far as Marcy could see. She hoped Bonnie would agree.

A grey shadow landed silently on the mattress next to her, making her jump for a second before the quiet trilling meow announced it was Peppermint just back from a night's hunting in their neighbours' gardens. Bonnie stirred but didn't completely wake at the movement, tightening her arms a little and drawing Marceline closer until she was wrapped in a close hug with her girlfriend's face pressed against the top of her chest. Peppermint curled up on her other side and began purring quietly, head butting her hand until she let it slip down his vibrating side and stroke the velvety fur on his stomach. With a sleeping girlfriend on one side and a contented cat snuggled lovingly around her hand on the other Marceline closed her eyes and finally drifted off to sleep, peaceful again with all thoughts of legal guardianship and worst case scenarios forgotten for the moment.

...

Of course it didn't last. Bonnie wasn't sure why she'd ever thought work would be anything except the usual nine hours of stressful grind and barely controlled panic. She looked down over the patient notes again, frowning in annoyance when she saw the signature she'd known would be there from the second the file had landed on her desk.

"Doctor King said he wouldn't need any surgery." the boy's mother pressed. "He said aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy could do the job just as well."

For just a fraction of a second Bonnie considered telling her patient's mother that Dr King was a barely qualified fraud that she wouldn't trust to keep milk cold, let alone make complicated medical decisions for a child. But she bit the words back and fixed her professional, understanding smile onto her face instead. Patients like the Llewelyns needed careful handling; she could have slapped King for blundering in like a bull in a china shop and making everything that much more complicated than it needed to be.

"Mrs Llewelyn, with all due respect Dr King is not the consultant paediatric oncologist at this hospital and is not the doctor with ultimate responsibility for your son's care. While it's true that chemotherapy could reduce the tumour size there's no guarantee that we'd be able to put it completely into remission before it metastasizes and spreads to other areas. If that happens and your son develops a secondary tumour it would likely already be resistant to all the drugs we'd used in the chemotherapy. That means it would be much harder to treat and could become terminal. In a worst case scenario treating Timmy's cancer with chemotherapy and radiotherapy could actually make the cancer stronger, more likely to kill him. It would also leave him completely infertile. At twelve he's probably old enough that he could save a semen sample for use later if he wanted to have biological children but it would be safer and make a lot more sense to simply remove the cancerous testicle before it can spread anywhere else in his body."

"Mum, tell her I don't want them to cut my balls off!" the boy begged, looking between them imploringly.

"You heard my son, doctor. He doesn't want the surgery." his mother nodded with a frown.

"Timmy, without the surgery the cancer will probably kill you. If we take away the testicle that's got the cancer in it then the other one will work just fine and we can give you a silicone prosthetic. Nobody will ever be able to tell that you've had surgery unless you tell them first. Do you understand what I'm telling you?" Bonnie asked, directing her words to the boy sitting nervously clasping his mother's hand on the other side of her office desk. He chewed his lip thoughtfully, avoiding her eyes.

"But Dr King said you didn't have to. He said he knew how I must be feeling and he wouldn't want anyone cutting off his balls either." Timmy finally mumbled in reply.

It took all of her professional detachment not to make a dark comment about someone cutting off Dr King's balls, but Bonnie managed to simply nod understandingly.

"I know it's scary. And you're probably really worried that the other boys at school will find out and they'll laugh at you, yeah? But I absolutely guarantee, Timmy, nobody will know you've had a testicle removed. Nobody will even be able to tell, no future girlfriends or boyfriends or even doctors if you don't let them know first. The silicone prosthetic is so lifelike that nobody will be able to tell the difference. But if we don't remove the cancer it might make you a lot sicker, it could kill you."

"And what if it was your son?" Timmy's mother cut in sharply. "Would you still be advising he needs to have half of his manhood removed?"

"Absolutely. Without a doubt. If my son ever suffers testicular cancer the very first thing I'd recommend would be that he has either one or both testicles removed, it's absolutely the safest way." Bonnie replied calmly, without a second's hesitation.

Timmy frowned and looked her up and down appraisingly. He was a smart boy, he must have already figured out that if her hypothetical son was his age she must have had him when she wasn't a lot older than Timmy himself.

"How old is he?" Timmy asked after a second. "You said it makes a difference if I've started puberty or not. So is your son younger than me?"

Until then she'd not actually spoken about the pregnancy with anyone but Marceline and their family doctor, hadn't said it out loud to anyone. Bonnie hesitated for half a second but Timmy was staring up at her expectantly and sooner or later she'd have to say those words to someone. Bonnie nodded, just a little reluctantly.

"A lot younger, Timmy. He's not even born yet. We're expecting him some time in the spring next year."

"So he'd just be a tiny baby and you'd still let them take one of his balls off if he got cancer?"

"Yes. It would be the best way to save his life."

Timmy nodded thoughtfully.

"Ok. You can do the surgery so long as nobody can tell I have a prosthetic. Right?" he said quietly. His mother stared at him, obviously surprised.

"Are you sure, Tim? I want you to be certain." she asked him in concern.

"Yeah. Dr Sugar would do it for her baby. And she's a lot nicer than Dr King, he's such an arsehole."

"Timothy Logan Llewelyn! Just because you have testicular cancer does not mean you can use whatever foul language you want! Your father-"

"Called Dr King an arsehole first. Dad doesn't like him either. Urgh, Mum, you're so _lame._ " Timmy cut in with a roll of his eyes. Oh yes, he'd definitely started puberty already. Bonnie managed to keep her smile sympathetic but it was impossible to stop it from spreading across her face just a little. Maybe in about twelve years her son would be calling her lame, too. It was an unexpectedly wonderful thought.

"I'll give you a copy of the paperwork we'll need you and your husband to sign and some information about what the surgery will do and what to expect afterwards. But you and Timmy can go home for now. We'll monitor him and schedule the surgery for as soon as possible." Bonnie told them both before they could escalate into a full argument. Mrs Llewelyn nodded reluctantly.

"Thank you, doctor. And congratulations on your pregnancy."

Bonnie didn't correct her, it wasn't relevant to Timmy's surgery and that was the whole point of the conference. But she did spend a few minutes staring thoughtfully into space after the door closed behind her patient and his mother. That wasn't at all how she'd expected their first pregnancy announcement to go. It felt good, in a way, to just casually mention to someone that they were expecting. Of course Mrs Llewelyn had automatically assumed it was her who was pregnant and that was something she should have expected but with everything else that had been going on Bonnie hadn't thought about it. It hadn't even crossed her mind in the last year and a half, since they'd started seriously talking about having a baby and begun planning for it. That was when they'd agreed it would make more sense for Marceline to receive the donation because her job was that much easier to take a career break from and it had been obvious right from the start how badly she'd wanted it to be her anyway. Bonnie rested a hand on her own stomach contemplatively. Perhaps, in a couple of years. They'd see how they got on with one baby first. Marceline didn't want their son to grow up as an only child anyway so it was likely another pregnancy was in their future if she got her way, which most of the time she did. If everything worked out then they'd talk more about it, maybe contact the clinic and see if the same donor was available. The morning sickness didn't seem pleasant but Bonnie wondered more than ever how it would feel knowing there was a whole new life growing inside of her. And that was pretty unexpectedly wonderful, too.

...

There was a familiar car blocking the driveway by the time Bonnie came home that evening. She pulled up on the side of the road instead; they wouldn't stay all night anyway and she'd park properly once they'd gone home. It was the eleventh of September already? Bonnie shook her head, wondering where the summer had gone. She'd known to expect it the moment she'd seen the classic mini parked where her brand new Jaguar should have been but the wall of admittedly very tuneful noise that hit her when she opened the door made her wince anyway.

" _-such an old fashioned word._

 _And love dares you to care for the people on the_

 _Edge of the night._

 _And love dares you to change our ways of_

 _Caring about ourselves._

 _This is our last chance. This is ourselves._

 _Under pressure."_

There was Marcy with her electric bass guitar slung dorkily high around her shoulders, clearly loving being the centre of attention while she played the iconic bassline and sang the David Bowie lines of the duet. And her electric drum kit was downstairs too, being joyfully hammered away at by an older man with a trimmed white beard and round tinted glasses. Bonnie looked around and as expected Betty was perched on the end of their sofa with a borrowed electric guitar. So Simon and Betty were back from their round the world cruise and like usual Bonnie's lounge had been converted into a makeshift recording studio so they could entertain each other. She wasn't even annoyed about it anymore, it was such a regular occurrence. Of course Marcy had converted a bedroom into a practice studio almost the second they'd bought the house but they still preferred to use the lounge, it was larger and more comfortable.

"Hey, babe! Guess who dropped by." Marcy grinned up at her when she noticed they weren't alone.

"Bonnibel! You're looking well, we thought we'd bring dinner for you both." Simon chimed in, standing from the electric drum kit and hurrying forward to give her a hug.

"Hello Simon, Betty. How was your cruise?" Bonnie asked politely.

"Oh! It was the whole world! No way to describe it in just a few syllables so we brought you all the photos!" he enthused, smiling back at his wife who spared him a fond smile in reply when she caught his eye. Betty had sidled up to Marceline under the cover of Simon's enthusiastic greetings and they were talking quietly together, faces serious and eyes tender. Bonnie wondered what was going on, no doubt Marcy would tell her all about it later though.

"Simon, honey, save the photos for later. We'll start the dinner." Betty called over to him.

"Of course. May we politely request the use of your kitchen?" Simon asked with another smile.

"Sure, you know where everything is, right? Do you need a hand?" Bonnie replied.

"No no, you just sit yourself down and we'll fix everything. I made your favourite, darling." Simon added to Marceline who grinned from ear to ear.

"Baked chicken! You're the absolute best, thanks Simon!"

The older couple wandered off to the kitchen, clattering around looking for pots and pans, and Bonnie finally let herself collapse exhausted onto the sofa next to Marceline.

"It's not that I mind seeing them but a little warning would have been nice." Bonnie told her partner with a long sigh.

"Three text messages and a voicemail isn't warning enough?" Marcy asked.

"Oh. Didn't check my mobile, sorry. Oh well, guess we're having dinner with your foster parents tonight. How was work? What was all that about with Betty?"

"Work was fine, just trying to lead my less bright undergrads by the nose and help them pass at least one module. I swear some of them only got into university because their fathers bribed the admissions team, one in particular is breathtakingly rich and stupid. But Betty's ok. She's just worried about me, she thinks I'm too thin and I look really tired. I mean, I haven't slept properly in weeks and if I manage to keep dinner down it'll be the only thing that I haven't brought back up all day so she's not really wrong. I've lost weight since Denmark, I weighted myself today and I'm like, three kilos lighter. And she knows how much I hate ginger so she's really suspicious that I'm drinking ginger tea. Honestly babe if she'd had kids of her own I think she'd know exactly what's going on, she probably suspects it already. She's a suspicious type like that."

"At least she's letting you tell her in your own time and not pressuring you into announcing it before you're ready." Bonnie replied quietly. She kept one eye on the lounge door, very aware that one of Marceline's foster parents might wander back through at any moment. Probably safest to change the subject.

"I was thinking we should start planning our Halloween costumes already." Bonnie said instead. "I know it's only gonna get stressful for you otherwise and Jake absolutely won't accept any excuses for not being dressed up for his party. And you can't just keep turning up in a pair of last minute fangs and telling everyone you're a rock'n'roll vampire, Jake said if you do that again this year he's gonna make Lady dress as a Slayer and chase you around all night with a stake."

"He's such a butt sometimes. Remember when Jake's parties used to be about getting totally trashed and dancing to weird music? Now it's all toffee apples and taking the kids trick or treating. If I didn't know better I'd say he's grown up." Marcy replied distractedly. She'd pulled her phone out and was presumably scrolling through costume ideas.

"Oh yeah because you clearly hate taking the kids trick or treating. How much candy did you and Kim bring in last year?"

"Oh man, that was a good haul! I told you he was the cutest little pirate to ever sail the seven seas. Hey, Bon? We're gonna have to think of next year's costume, too. It's gonna have to be something extra sweet."

Bonnie frowned, confused.

"Like, a sprinkle donut?"

"Not the kinda 'sweet' I had in mind. You're so weirdly literal sometimes."

"Ok, but we need to think about this year first. So what do you wanna do? Couple costume?" Bonnie pressed. She was surprisingly into Halloween. Jake always threw a massive party and she loved the whole ritual of dressing up, she had ever since she was a kid. Most everyone assumed Marceline was the one who insisted on the detailed costumes and any other time it would be a safe bet that she was behind anything extravagant but when it came to Halloween Bonnie liked to push the boat out. Marcy had known several medical students during her career at the university and she could say with absolute certainty that doctors partied harder than anyone and approached holidays with a strict military-style organisation.

"Sure, couple costume sounds good. Something a bit more inventive than putting fake moustaches on and going as Freddie Mercury and Elton John again." Marceline replied with a fond eye roll.

"You made a very cute Freddie Mercury though. How about we do something Disney this year?" Bonnie asked with her most innocent smile.

"Over my dead body."

"You're no fun."

"Oh sure, I'm the boring one. Unrelatedly you still have three episodes of your lame garden show to watch before I record over them on the TV box, they're rerunning the X Files on the sci-fi channel and I wanna get the whole season down for when I'm stuck at home putting my feet up next spring."

"Marcy, honey, where did you move your cutlery drawer to?"

Betty's voice floating through from the kitchen interrupted them and Marceline stood from the sofa, rolling her shoulders to loosen the muscles a little before she went to help her foster mother set the table. They'd have to make a decision on Halloween costumes soon but she wasn't about to stress over it. More than anything Marceline was hoping she could keep down Simon's excellent cooking at least until her foster parents had gone home. Getting sick right in front of them would only make them worry more and Marcy was thoroughly bored of people worrying about her. She pressed her hand against her stomach in the same unconscious gesture she'd been making since the pregnancy test came back positive. Everything felt like it was on hold until she could tell everyone, like the waiting was slowly killing her. But for now they'd just have dinner and look at a million photos of Betty and Simon on their round the world cruise, there were much worse ways to spend the evening.


	7. Week 7

**Another one of my friends is pregnant omfg I must be like a psychic wizard or something. Perpahs I should write a story about winning the lottery or something? I've spent most of my night at work knitting a baby blanket between talking to patients, and planning yet more baby stuff I can make. Babies, babies everywhere. It's raining babies. Hallelujah.**

 **aaAAAAHH reviews! You guys! You make me blush when you give me compliments on my writing, it's so wonderful of you! I love you with all of my tender squishy heart. Keep it up if you feel like letting me know what you think of my story. My deepest apologies to the citizens of Malmö, I've actually never been but I have heard that it kinda sucks. Sorry. But Pressbyrån hotdogs are legit amazing.**

 **Content Warning: Alcohol but at least they're drinking responsibly. Mostly. Except Jake, I headcannon that he's still a total party animal. Bad language, confrontation, general sickness.**

* * *

"Strawberry beeeeeeeer forever!" Finn sang, sliding a reddish pint down the table to Marceline and grinning at her. She grimaced and pushed it away regretfully, stomach churning at the sight of it.

"Sorry, man. Still on those antibiotics, no alcohol for me. But I appreciate the thought." she muttered with a sour frown. Finn just stared at her.

"But it's been, like, _weeks._ " he whined. "One little drink isn't gonna make any difference, is it? I got that stupidly expensive fruit beer, it's your favourite! And you don't look so ill."

She just shrugged uncomfortably, wishing Bonnie would hurry up and come back from the bathroom, rescue her from having to make up lame excuses to Finn. The redhead was taking her time; she was probably gossiping with Lady. Their usual bar was too damn loud, it was one of the rare occasions when Marcy wasn't so horribly nauseated and she wanted more than anything to be home on the sofa stuffing her face with literally any and every foodstuff she could get her hands on. Really she'd rather be doing anything but having to lie to her friends and watch them enjoy beer she wasn't going to be allowed for a very long time.

"Actually you do look kinda tired still." Jake countered, staring intently at her face. "Bon Bon keeping you up all night? That filthy dog."

"Huh, I wish. Nah man, I'm not sleeping too well. Up and down a lot, being sick, you know how it is. Stomach infection's still kicking my butt." she lied, not meeting his eyes and instead rubbing the side of her neck self-consciously.

"Yeah, Lady does that a lot too. Pretty much constantly for the last seven years. Up and down all night for the full nine months then up and down for the next two or three years feeding and changing and mothering. Bonnibel hasn't made you pregnant with a lesbo tongue baby, has she? Maybe we should give her face a vasectomy too." Jake replied with a grin. He and Finn laughed and Marceline smiled weakly, wishing harder than ever that Bonnie would hurry the fuck up and come back from the bathroom already. It was worryingly close to the truth that Jake had brought up pregnancy.

"Hey Marcy?" Jake asked thoughtfully with a small frown creasing his kind face, "Um, y'know, I don't wanna be rude? But your, um, shirt is kinda popping open... are your boobs getting bigger?"

"Dude!" Finn exclaimed, "You can't ask a woman if her breasts are bigger! We agreed when we made friends with the hot lesbians we wouldn't stare at their chests!"

Marcy's hands flew to where her shirt was indeed popping open and she hastily fixed the buttons that had come loose. She rested her head on the table, defeated. She was too tired, she hadn't wanted to come for their regular meetup with Finn, Jake and Lady anyway and she was pretty certain she'd just been rumbled. Bonnie had warned her that her shirt was getting too tight across the chest but it was one of her favourites and she hadn't wanted to give up wearing it just yet. But Jake was the veteran of four pregnancies in seven years; any second now he'd put everything together and-

" _No way!_ " Jake yelped, "When were you gonna tell us?"

"Tell us what?" Finn asked, confused. His gaze flickered between his brother and his friend like he was watching them play a tennis match.

"In about another five weeks." Marceline told Jake quietly, closing her eyes wearily for a second so she didn't have to see the fuss the big man was making. "Didn't wanna say anything yet, you know, just in case. You know I worry about stuff and I didn't wanna have to explain if something goes wrong. I wanted to wait until after the scan."

"In case _what_ goes wrong?" Finn whined. "What's going on? What are you worried about? What scan? Jake? I don't understand." he turned a pleading look to his older brother.

"Oh man, seriously, bro? She's not drinking, she's literally bursting outta that shirt, she's tired all the time and throwing up a lot especially in the mornings. Finn, we're gonna be uncles!" Jake told him with a massive grin.

"No way! But- how? What...? But- are you saying... Bonnie's pregnant?" Finn gasped, covering his mouth with his hands in shock. It would probably have been hilarious if she wasn't so exhausted, Marcy thought.

"Err, no, she's not. But sorta, um, I am."

"You? What do you mean? But you're... you know." Finn mumbled, blushing furiously and staring at her.

"Are you trying to say I'm 'the man' and therefore not able to carry a child? Because I swear to God I will fucking _cut you_." Marceline growled. She was only half joking.

"God no! I mean, no, of course not! But you're, you know, y'know? Right?" he gesticulated wildly, looking around to Jake for support. His brother just shrugged.

"You're on your own with this one, bro. I think she really would actually cut you, too."

"The term you're looking for, Finn, is _queer presenting_. I don't always dress in a typically feminine way unless I'm performing, I don't routinely wear makeup or do other really girly things, and Bonnie usually does. If you had to pick one of us as more classically feminine I'm well aware that it wouldn't be me. But none of that affects my ability to establish or maintain a pregnancy. Obviously." Marceline explained wearily. She got the feeling she'd be explaining the same thing again and again for a lot of people.

"But, but how did it happen?" Finn pleaded, looking completely lost. "Bonnie doesn't have any, y'know, little... swimmy tadpole dudes."

Finn wiggled his fingers when words failed him, staring around at them both with big pleading eyes.

"Finn, is that supposed to be sign language for 'sperm'?" Marceline asked him with a laugh. He grinned at her, clearly beginning to get over his shock.

"I guess? But yeah, how though? You're both girls so- Oh! Did you trick some guy into coming home with you?"

"No! Stop! Stop right there, Finn! No guys were tricked in the making of this baby, it was a completely legit sperm donation from a donor in a private clinic! Don't even begin to think anything else." Marceline replied in a tone full of horror. " _As if_ I'd even do that! What's that word Bonnie always calls you?"

"Distasteful?"

"Yeah. That's too distasteful, Finn!"

Finn didn't reply immediately, he was staring at her stomach contemplatively.

"Can I touch it?" he asked quietly after a moment. "Does it move yet?"

"I'm not even eight weeks gone. It probably does move a little but it's the size of a kidney bean and way too small to feel. But sure, go ahead and grope my stomach. I suppose I should get used to it since according to Lady pregnant women just have to put up with being prodded and touched by pretty much everyone."

He took a deep drink from his own beer then slid onto the bench next to her and put his hand reverently against her abdomen, beaming wondrously around at them both and sliding his other arm around her shoulder in a close hug. The hug was nice, Marcy was close to both her boys and it was really good to finally have her secret off her chest around them.

"Dude, you should _feel_ it! I can feel it moving!" he told Jake excitedly.

"Actually I'm probably just gassy, but knock yourself out." Marcy told him with a tired smile.

Finn was bent forward, talking nonsense to her stomach and massaging it like he was somehow communicating with the tiny life growing there. It was cute, Bonnie did the same thing sometimes before they went to bed.

"I'm gonna teach you to fish and swim and ride a pony." Finn told her stomach in a conspiratorial voice. "You don't know it yet kid, but I'm the cool uncle. Jake's the lame one, but Uncle Finn is awesome. I'm gonna spoil you rotten, you're our little kidney bean. Oh! And I'll teach you to drive and I'll buy your first beer on your eighteenth birthday! We're gonna have so many adventures together! And I'll babysit you and teach you about why boys are awful and you should only ever date girls and why DC is actually way better than Marvel and-"

"Finn, it's not even gonna have working ears for at least another ten weeks." Marceline told him with a sigh. Jake just smiled adoringly at them both; Finn was doing everything Lady had forbidden him from in every one of her pregnancies. He was just making the most of being allowed to touch a pregnant belly.

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" Finn asked with shining eyes. Marceline shook her head.

"I think it's a boy because I'm so bloody sick all the time but Her Doctoriness says that doesn't mean anything and there's no way to be sure yet. And you know I'm not stupid enough to argue with Bonnie about medical stuff. We won't be completely certain until he's old enough to talk anyway. But I'm convinced it's a boy. Mothers know this stuff."

"Mothers. Woah, that's a weird thought." Finn breathed distractedly.

"Switching teams for Finn? Or did his beautiful womanly hair just confuse you?" Lady's teasing voice drifted over to them. All three of them looked around, surprised.

Of course Lady and Bonnie had chosen that moment to return from their bathroom adventure. Of course. Bonnie was standing just behind her friend's shoulder, eyes narrowed towards where a grinning Finn was still rubbing Marceline's stomach.

"What the hell, Marcy? What happened to not saying anything until twelve weeks?" Bonnie asked, frowning around at them all. Finn removed his hands and shrank back into his seat a little; he'd always been a bit freaked out when usually sweet and gentle Bonnie showed suddenly showed a flash of the temper she normally kept under tight control.

"Come on, Bon, they guessed! Jake's too good at noticing stuff, he's seen it before plenty of times. And I'm sick of lying to people! Can we please just not fight about this? Because I'm way too tired and nauseous right now and if you're gonna yell at me I'd rather we did it in the comfort of our own home. I know it was my idea not to say anything yet but it doesn't matter, they _guessed_. What should I have done, lied about it?"

"I thought you guys might be pregnant, you were buying a suspicious amount of kiwis that day I met you at the supermarket." Lady nodded, smiling. "Congratulations, you two! I'm so happy for you both. Don't be mad at her, Bonnibel. Jake's very good at guessing, he knew I was having Junior before I did."

She swept her old friend up into a hug before turning to Marceline to give her the same treatment. Bonnie just sighed and accepted the congratulations with only a slight sulk.

"You lot weren't supposed to know yet." she mumbled. "Haven't told anyone, not even our parents."

"Wait!" Finn yelled, excited. "You said you're nearly eight weeks gone? That's like, two months ago. You were on holiday two months ago! Did you do the donation stuff on holiday?"

Marcy met her girlfriend's eyes and shrugged at her querying expression. She was glad Bonnie was leaving it up to her what other information she chose to tell them, Bonnie had been quite clear right from the start that it was Marceline's pregnancy so she got final say on the fine details. But if they didn't tell Finn everything now he'd just keep bugging them and trying to guess until they cracked and told him. He was annoyingly persistent like that.

"Yeah, we did it on holiday. Didn't you think it was weird we went to Denmark instead of somewhere warm?" Marcy asked him.

"I dunno, you go all kinds of weird places for holidays. Like that time you went to Iceland." Finn replied with a shrug.

"Iceland is beautiful! It's an excellent holiday destination!" Marcy started indignantly. "We had a spa break at a hot spring and went whale watching under the northern lights, it was magical. Just because you can't think of anything more imaginative than going to the same grotty hotel in Spain every year with your weirdo friend-"

"Marcy." Bonnie said in a warning tone. "Let him alone. If you had a friend who owned a hotel and offered you free holidays you'd never leave."

Her girlfriend just frowned and muttered under her breath, something that sounded suspiciously like 'Tiffany's hotel sucks'.

"Anyway, we went to Denmark, they have a special clinic there." Bonnie continued, ignoring the muttering and mutinous glances Marcy and Finn were throwing each other, "And we got lucky, it worked the first time. We didn't know it had worked at all until a week after we got home."

"Yeah, that was lucky. Don't think I could stand another trip to bloody Malmö, that place is nowhere near as awesome as the guidebook says. But their hotdogs are good." Marceline added.

"Isn't Malmö in Sweden?" Lady frowned.

"Yep, a quick ferry ride away from our clinic in Denmark and a lot easier to fly to. And Bon likes to think she can speak Swedish, but it turns out everyone speaks English there and, spoiler, German is not the same language as Swedish. They just looked at her like she was crazy and explained in perfectly good English that they didn't speak German."

"Why Denmark?" Jake asked curiously.

"It's, um, the sperm capital of Europe? They have this clinic there that has one of the largest collections of potential donors in the world and really rigorous quality checks and everything. Bonnie wanted the absolute best, not that she's trying to build a master race or anything. Kidding!" Marceline added hurriedly when her girlfriend sucked in an angry breath to defend herself with.

"Master race jokes aren't appropriate when your partner's half German." Bonnie informed her curtly. Marceline smiled back at her with apologetic puppy dog eyes and after a second Bonnie sighed and allowed her girlfriend to press an apologetic kiss against her lips.

"Anyway, we kinda liked the idea of having a little Viking. And I wanted to get a donor that looked similar to Bonnie, red hair, blue eyes, we even found one who was a student doctor too." Marceline continued with a smile. Bonnie nodded her agreement and swatted Finn's hand away, resting her own against Marceline's stomach possessively.

"She started craving kiwi fruit." Bonnie added. "Like, almost straight away. From about three weeks, nothing but kiwi fruit. You've no idea how hard I tried to get her to eat anything else."

"That's what gave it away at first, that and when you stopped drinking. Almost everyone I know had a fruit craving or an ice craving, except for me. I craved bourbon." Lady added, nodding her agreement. She blinked in confusion at their staring faces. "What? Bourbon flavoured barbeque sauce! Not actual bourbon! I didn't drink while pregnant!"

"Right! But you can drink now, honey, so we should go get a round of drinks to wet the baby's head!" Jake announced excitedly. "And an apple and kiwi juice for Mum-to-be."

A few hours later Marcy was helping a somewhat tipsy and giggly Bonnibel into a taxi, trying not to be too jealous that everyone else had had such an awesome night drinking and celebrating.

"I think you're supposed to be the one looking after me." she grouched as they pulled away from the curb.

"I am gonna look after you, thoroughly, the minute I get you home." Bonnie replied in what she probably thought was a seductive voice.

"Sure, Bon. I totally bet that's what's gonna happen." Marcy replied with a sigh. Bonnie rested her head on her girlfriend's shoulder and grinned happily.

Long before the taxi pulled up in front of their door she was snoring gently.

...

If Monday morning were a person it would be Dr Julian King. Bonnie really just wanted to tell him to fuck off and yell at someone else but she was far too professional for that, obviously much more professional than her loudmouthed colleague. She waited patiently for him to finish screaming, watching with distant interest as his face slowly turned purple and blotchy with the force of his outrage. Eventually he had to stop for breath and when he did Bonnie cut in smoothly.

"I'm hearing a lot of hostility from you, Julian. But the fact of the matter remains that Timothy Llewelyn is my patient and his parents' choice is final. Whatever personal insult you may or may not choose to infer from their decision to take my advice and allow the surgery to proceed I can guarantee you that Timothy's wellbeing is my first and only priority in this matter. With all due respect, Julian, your feelings about his treatment didn't even make my top ten when I was talking through the options with his family."

"You snide, underhanded little shit! You're a power hungry bitch! I can't believe that you'd use a sick boy as a pawn to make a power play over your colleagues! What's the point in even employing anyone else in this hospital, magnificent Dr Sugar knows everything! Well I'm not having you overrule my every decision, Sugar. You can guarantee senior management will be hearing about this!"

Well she'd been looking for a reason to terminate his contract. Bonnie took a moment to memorize the exact words he'd used, 'snide, underhanded little shit' and 'power hungry bitch'. She'd need to copy it down exactly as he'd said it.

"Oh yes, they most certainly will be hearing about this matter. I'll be reporting you for insubordination and professional misconduct, Julian. Please be aware that you're welcome to bring a colleague or a union representative to your disciplinary hearing and that the hospital's board of directors will have the final say in any contract termination. Until we've set a date for the hearing you're suspended without pay. With immediate effect. Get out of my office and get your things; you'll be receiving a letter from the administration department soon to confirm the date and time we'll decide on a course of action."

King gaped at her like she'd just punched him and that alone made getting screamed at worth it. The seconds ticked by silently and stretched into half a minute of him staring with his mouth open and her looking back calmly. Finally, without a word, King spun on his heel and marched out of the office. He slammed the door closed hard enough that the pictures on the wall shook. Bonnie let out a long, weary sigh and rested her head on her desk. Despite her personal dislike of the man she took no pleasure in having to suspend Dr King. It would leave the department even more short-handed than it already was until they could either rein him in a little or fire him and find a replacement. She glanced at the time; if she was quick she'd be able to catch Marceline before she was stuck in rehearsals. Bonnie picked up her mobile and dialled her girlfriend.

"Hey, what's up?" Marcy answered after a few rings. She sounded tired; Bonnie had woken at six to find her girlfriend already up and hunched weakly over the toilet bowl. Her morning sickness had been getting worryingly bad over the last few days and she was coming down with a cold. Of course she stubbornly refused to take a sick day from work though.

"You know how you always wanted me to fire King? Well, be careful what you wish for. I'll be late home tonight, I've just had to suspend him. Apparently he thinks that screaming insults in my face for overruling his crappy medical decisions is a professional way to speak to his direct superior. So now I'll have to pick up his rotation, he was on a split shift so it'll be a late one. I'm sorry, love."

Marcy sighed down the phone; there was a long pause before she spoke next.

"Yeah, ok then. Are you alright, babe? If I'd been there you know you'd have had to restrain me so I didn't punch the bastard."

That hadn't been what Bonnie had expected; she'd been braced for Marcy to be angry or hurt that she'd be spending most of the evening alone. Bonnie felt a little wrong footed by how calmly her girlfriend had taken it.

"I'm fine, sweetie. Just a bit shaken, I was getting on with my paperwork just minding my own business when he burst into my office screaming accusations. Are you gonna be ok tonight? Do you want me to call someone to come keep you company? Finn or Jake or someone?" Bonnie asked, concerned.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I don't much like the idea of hurling my guts up in front of them. Jake'll fuss and worry, Finn will think it's funny or something equally inappropriate. I'll just curl up on the sofa with the cats and watch TV until you get home." Marcy replied with a tired sigh edging her words.

"Are you sure? You don't wanna go to Simon's place for the evening or something? You could tell him you've got stomach flu and you need looking after."

"He'd feed me chicken soup until I vommed and then be even more worried. I'd rather not have to scare the poor old guy like that."

"Ok, well just look after yourself, love. If you need me I'll either be on my mobile or if you leave a message with the evening receptionist I'll pick it up when I'm back from wherever I can't use my mobile. Promise you'll take care of yourself?" Bonnie added in concern.

"Promise. I'll be fine, babe. Go doctor people, I've gotta run through the Guildhall recital with my postgrad group now anyway."

"Ok. Love you, see you when I see you."

"Love you too. Try to have a good day."

Bonnie hung up the line with a sigh. Her stomach was churning now too, fluttering with anxious nerves because she hated having to attend disciplinary meetings. Hated the idea of her animosity with Dr King getting dragged out in front of the senior management and board members, hated that he was probably already running through every possible angle to make her look bad now that he had a chance to speak his peace on the record. Nothing to be done about it though, she'd just have to try to maintain her professional detachment. If things got personal in the hearing it would only go against him. Bonnie took a steadying breath before heading through to the reception desk to ask Lydia to send a memo to administration.

...

The house was dark except for the glow of the TV. Marceline wasn't sure how long she'd been curled up on the sofa, if she'd been sleeping or what time it was. She must have slept, she figured. She just didn't remember it at all and didn't feel like she'd been asleep. She was curled on her side with Cinnamon sprawled across her hip like a tiny stupid lion. A noise in the hall made her jump; that must have been what had woken her.

"Bonnie?" she called a little thickly, still confused and wrong footed from being woken so suddenly.

"Hey. Did you wait up for me?" Bonnie asked, ducking into the lounge. One look at her face had Marceline dragging herself off the sofa and hurrying across to her girlfriend.

"Babe, what's wrong? Are you ok? You look terrible, what happened?" Marcy breathed, pulling her in close for a hug.

"Yeah, I feel pretty terrible. It's almost eleven at night; I've been at work for fourteen hours covering King's shift because the admin team couldn't find an emergency locum. Honestly love, if I don't sit down soon I'm going to fall over." Bonnie murmured tiredly in reply.

"Did you eat? Are you hungry? I didn't have the stomach for anything but nibbling on rice cakes and they didn't stay down. But I can cook you something if you want." Marcy told her, voice full of equally weary concern. That _bastard_ King, if he could just do his job like a normal fucking person her sweet Bonnie wouldn't be constantly exhausted and on the verge of a collapse most of the time. It made Marceline's blood boil but she kept hold of her temper, just. It would do absolutely no good to be anything except completely gentle and loving with her partner tonight.

"I grabbed a sandwich out of the canteen about six, I'm not hungry. Can we just go to bed?" Bonnie asked, swaying a little.

"Alright. Come on then, babe. I'm gonna put you to bed and cuddle you until you feel better."

They made their way just a little unsteadily upstairs, supporting each other because Marcy was still feeling pretty weak too.

"Told you I'd look after you when I felt better." Marcy told her quietly as they slid under the sheets together.

"You don't feel better. You look really sick, love." Bonnie replied worriedly.

"I'm fine. Just tired, I feel like I could sleep for days. Hopefully I'll get a full night tonight but I don't need to be in work till like, eleven tomorrow morning. So I can stay up a bit if I need. Honestly babe, I'm perfectly fine."

That was lie but a very well intentioned one. Bonnie was very stressed and obviously exhausted, she'd had a much longer day than she'd been expecting and Marceline just couldn't bring herself to add to her partner's worries. So instead she simply pulled the redhead closer and ran a sleepy hand through her hair lovingly.

"Sleep, babe. I'll fix you a nice breakfast tomorrow, don't want you going into work without something fortifying to see you through the day."

"You're the best." Bonnie mumbled, eyes already closed.

No, she really wasn't, Marceline thought to herself as she reached over and flicked off the bedside lamp on Bonnie's night stand. But she could pretend for as long as it took to make sure Bonnie looked after herself. The morning sickness would ease off soon, she was certain of it. The she could do a better job of looking after her girlfriend.


	8. Week 8

**Backstory time! So I'm not sure how much you guys know about vasectomies or how rare a spontaneous reversal is but it's a minor medical procedure where the tubes that allow sperm to enter the ejaculate from the testes are disconnected, making a man permanently sterile unless he has a surgical reversal procedure or in some rare cases one or both tubes reattach spontaneously. Guess which happened to poor Jake.**

 **So I'm still kinda ill and failing at doing most anything right now but I am trying my hardest to post new chapters as frequently as I can manage. If there's a bit of a gap before I post the next one it's because I'm trying to fix my life and power through to the end of Continuum which I've been neglecting horribly. And I had yet another idea for an original novel but I have to finish the three I'm already writing first, I have too many ideas.**

 **Content warning: mostly medical stuff. Details about vasectomies, backstory, non-Caucasian skin problems, mild references to what happens to lady parts after a baby has been squeezed out of them, a reminder that every human alive poops (nobody is actually pooping in this chapter, I promise).**

* * *

Despite how badly she'd wanted to wait before telling anyone there were some unexpectedly awesome benefits to their friends knowing about the pregnancy already, Marceline thought. At least ninety percent of those benefits involved Lady's freakishly in depth knowledge of everything baby related; the other ten percent consisted of Finn and Jake treating her like a queen. They carried her bags and opened doors for her, texted her every day to check how she was feeling and if she needed anything. Finn had already promised to put together the new furniture they'd need for the nursery and do all the hard work redecorating for them. She could definitely get used to that kind of attention at least. But even though eight weeks was still really early on Marcy had managed to worry herself into full-on panic mode, not just about the ever present threat of something happening to the baby but just her usual borderline obsessive compulsive disorder over being perfectly organised. Bonnie might be content to leave everything till the last minute but Marceline liked to have everything planned and ready; she wanted everything to be in place long before it would be required, just in case.

So that Wednesday afternoon when there were no lectures to deliver, no essays to grade and no postgrads to tutor Marcy left the university buildings after a disappointing lunch that she had no stomach for and wandered down with the steady stream of students leading away from the university quad into the town centre. She almost missed Lady, the Korean woman was sitting outside the small café they'd agreed to meet at sipping a coffee and looking unusually relaxed; Marcy realised it had been quite a while since she'd seen her friend without at least two noisy kids in her immediate orbit.

"Marceline! Hey! I got you an apple juice to go, you ready to hit the shops?" Lady called when she noticed the other woman. Marcy grimaced as her stomach rolled yet again.

"Uh, give me a minute? Just gotta run into the bathroom real quick."

"Nausea?"

"Mhm. Just be a minute."

Lady nodded understandingly as her friend pushed the door of the café open and hurried to the bathroom at the back of the room. A few minutes later she emerged looking pale and a bit faint but smiling weakly.

"Here, it's apple and ginger. Bonnie texted me to make sure I knew how to look after you in your 'delicate state', as if I don't know what I'm doing." Lady told her with a sly smile, handing her the bottle of juice.

"You and Bonnie can both fuck off." Marcy told her with an eye roll, smiling to take the heat out of her words. "I'm about as delicate as Jake's huge hairy dude-butt."

"So pretty damn delicate, then? He makes me buy the extra sensitive washing powder, if I use the regular stuff his girly little tush gets a nasty red rash that I refuse kiss better no matter how much he begs. I swear I actually have six kids, y'know." Lady replied with a laugh as they set off down the street to the shops together.

"Lucky you, he sounds like fun. I'm fairly certain Bonnie's mother is actually a Vulcan, the whole German thing is just a cover. And it runs in the family, I'm having a baby with a Lady Spock. Only much less tidy and much more of a workaholic."

"She is very focussed on saving kids' lives." Lady agreed diplomatically as they approached the doors of the nice middle class department store that Lady swore sold the most comfortable maternity clothes.

Marcy nodded distractedly as she followed her friend into the shop and up the escalator to the women's section. She'd noticed her regular jeans were finally starting to get a little tight. Despite the bathroom scales still indicating that she was significantly lighter than before their clinic appointment in Denmark Marceline was already beginning to worry about what she was going to wear for the next seven months. It was good to have the help of a close friend with a wealth of experience in choosing maternity clothes, Marceline had no idea what she actually needed to buy.

"Thanks for coming with me. I really couldn't deal with Bonnie being, well, Bonnie about it. The stereotypical German efficiency is strong with that one."

"Lady Spock. I know how she is." Lady nodded sympathetically. She'd been shopping with Bonnie plenty of times, she could totally understand why Marceline didn't want to march purposefully into every store, grab what she needed and then march straight to the cash register without so much as glancing at anything else. Besides if they were going to wait for Bonnie to have time off to go shopping for maternity clothes their baby would have grown up and gone to university before they got around to it.

"So what kind of thing are you looking for?" Lady asked instead, casting a critical eye around the store.

"I dunno really. Something pretty similar to what I usually wear?"

"I don't think they make Ramones t-shirts in maternity sizes."

Marcy made a face and turned to examine the fairly small selection available. Most of it was stuff she wouldn't be seen dead in.

"Alright, where do the cool pregnant women shop? This stuff looks like Bonnie's great aunt picked it out. Nope, I'm good for fussy pink blouses and floral slacks, thanks. Just jeans and a selection of black shirts are fine." Marcy said distractedly. She'd spotted a shirt that was at least passably cool, black and white horizontal stripes with a decent neckline and not a ruffle in sight. "How about this one?" she added, pulling it off the rack for a closer look.

"Yeah, that's a nice one. But those stripes are gonna make your bump look massive the moment it appears, depends on if you're ready for complete strangers to ask you when you're due all the time." Lady replied, frowning thoughtfully at the shirt. Marcy shrugged.

"Strangers don't talk to me so much. I'm pretty sure I intimidate them with all my natural charisma and stunning good looks. Bonnie says I look like I'm gonna cold blooded murder people when I stare into space so maybe that has something to do with it too but I prefer to think it's the charisma thing."

"Yeah, I think Bonnie has a point actually. Well anyway, I'd tell you to try it on but obviously it isn't gonna fit yet. But they make the bump out of stretchy fabric so you can wear it the full nine months. Get it if you like it and just wear sweaters and stuff over the top when you go out, it'll be pretty cold by the time you're big enough to need it." Lady said thoughtfully.

"Yay. I'm super looking forward to getting huge and stretched over Christmas." Marcy grimaced in reply.

"So vain. Everyone gets huge over Christmas, at least you won't just be carrying around half a roast turkey in your stomach. If you need it I have a really good lotion for beating stretch marks, I wasn't keen on that whole tiger-tummy look either. I really needed it with the twins too; those little monsters were what really messed with my figure. But behold, no visible stretch marks." Lady grinned, lifting up her shirt a little to show off her admittedly scar free hip. She maybe wasn't in exactly the same shape as she'd been before she'd given birth to five children but Marceline remembered how huge Lady's bump had been with her last pregnancy. It was a pretty amazing difference nevertheless.

"Yeah, I'll definitely take up the offer of your magic skin lotion, thanks." Marcy replied gratefully. If her miracle lotion could cover up the scars from five babies then Marcy was certain it could handle her one. Lady was going to be a goldmine of helpful information, she was so glad they were friends.

"I got it online, I'll send you the link so you can buy more when you want it. It's specially formulated for skin like ours. Be surprised, you can't get good lotion designed specifically for Asians in most shops here." Lady added with an eye roll.

"It's cool that it does exist though. Mixed and proud." Marcy grinned.

"Damn proud, mixed is awesome! You wanna check out the maternity jeans next?"

Sometimes it was good to have a friend who just got it without needing to have stuff explained first, Marceline thought to herself as they discussed the pros and cons of slacks versus bootcut jeans. Bonnie was wonderful and of course being half German she did understand that feeling of belonging to more than one culture, being from two worlds. But she never quite understood things on a purely instinctive level the way Lady did, things like casual acts of thoughtless racism or oppression. Bonnie had never been mistaken for a maid when she stayed in a nice hotel. Nobody stopped her in restaurants on her way to the bathroom to order another drink or looked at her twice when she was out in the street with her father. And Marceline was willing to bet quite a lot that Bonnie would never have thought about getting a stretch mark lotion that was designed specifically for Asian skin. Damn her hormones, Marcy was getting emotional over having a friend who was also a woman of colour. She desperately fought back the urge to shed a couple of tears and instead grabbed Lady into a quick hug.

"Thanks for coming with me today. I'm just, y'know, full of hormones and stuff. It means a lot that you're here for me." she mumbled, a bit ashamed of her sudden emotional mood swing.

"You're welcome hun, you were there for me right through all of my pregnancies. Do you want to go get a caffeine free drink and look over what we've picked out so far?" Lady asked sympathetically. Marceline nodded, very aware that the other woman was giving her time to compose herself and deeply grateful for her friend's thoughtfulness.

Once they'd paid for the clothes they'd picked out they made their way across to the in-store café. Marcy sipped carefully on a glass of cold water while Lady cast her eye over their purchases, pointing out all the features that would come in useful as her pregnancy progressed. There was a rather nice plaid shirt that flared out from the bust, it was deceptively roomy and looked like it could accommodate a pretty decently sized bump as well as being in a very acceptable shade of navy blue. It matched well with the three pairs of dark bootcut jeans and would probably look ok with the two pairs of black slacks at a pinch, so long as Bonnie didn't catch her wearing blue and black in the same outfit. The redhead had what Marceline considered to be some very strange rules about what colour combinations were acceptable, which was pretty ironic given that she often voluntarily wore a lot of pink despite the way it clashed with her hair. Marcy had lost track of the number of times they'd been late to things because Bonnie had made her change her outfit, claiming she wouldn't be caught dead with someone wearing whatever colour combination had offended her that week. Mostly her girlfriend just shrugged and went along with it. It was easier than arguing and besides Marceline secretly kinda liked it when Bonnie picked out her clothes. She'd always had a much better developed sense of style than Marceline anyway.

"We should do this more often." Lady concluded, nodding her approval over the clothes. "I'm not trying to put you off or anything and it's pretty much too late anyway, but have you any idea how long it's been since I had a nice day out shopping with friends without any kids wiping their nose on my hand or trying eat rocks? It's wonderful to talk to another adult about stuff that isn't just work or who's picking up Kim from football practice."

"It has been fun." Marcy agreed. She bit her lip nervously, there was something else she wanted to talk to Lady about when they were alone. "Hey, listen, can I ask you something kinda gross and personal?"

The Korean woman looked up at her thoughtfully.

"Is this about the actual birth and how long it'll take before your vagina goes back to normal?" she asked with a knowing smile.

"Um. Maybe? I'd normally wait until we had several shots of tequila in us to bring it up but since ginger tea doesn't have quite the same confidence boosting effects I'm just gonna have to out with it and ask. Is it gonna get weird down there?"

Lady took a long drink from her latte before she nodded carefully and replied.

"Yes and no. It's not gonna be the same as before, it'll never be completely the same again. But it will definitely be very similar, you'll get to a new normal pretty quickly. And there's stuff you can do to tighten everything up afterwards. Exercises and stuff. Get yourself some Kegel balls and just wear them around the house, you know?"

"Thanks. I don't want to ask Bonnie, I don't much want her to doctor me about it. There's something unbelievably unsexy about asking the woman you're sleeping with about gynaecological problems, you know? And she can be pretty clinically graphic. I'd like to keep the number of times I have to hear her say things like 'cervical prolapse' to a bare minimum." Marcy replied. She avoided Lady's eyes, very aware that there was an embarrassed flush creeping into her cheeks.

"So you're worried about how the bedroom stuff is gonna work after the baby's born?" Lady asked sympathetically. "Oh honey, that's the least of your worries. You're gonna be looking after a newborn, maybe breastfeeding, you'll be so exhausted that the moment you get to bed you'll basically pass out until the little one starts screaming for you again. It took about six months after Kim was born for me to even let Jake sleep with his boxers off and of course Charlie happened more or less immediately after that. Besides, you're lesbians. Unless Bonnibel has a secret penis she's hidden from us all these years then the relative internal shape of your lady parts isn't gonna make any difference to her at all. Lesbians have it so much easier, no rare spontaneous vasectomy reversals to worry about or accidental twin pregnancies."

It wasn't easy to really reply to that. After Junior had been born Jake and Lady had agreed that their family was complete and Jake had been medically sterilized. Bonnie had personally reassured him before the procedure that the rate of vasectomy failure was less than half a percent, that once he was healed up from the minor surgery he'd be completely sterile. So when TV and Violet had been conceived six months later Jake had graciously accepted her tearful apologies, as if she should have somehow known that he'd be in that tiny minority of men whose internal plumbing spontaneously reattached itself. It had been a hard decision but in the end Lady and Jake had agreed to keep their miracle babies, even though it was stretching their already tight finances to the limits and Jake's restaurant was still brand new and a big gamble for them. It worked, with a little help from their friends. But Marcy knew what a struggle the last year and a half had been for them, she knew how hard they still had it and she wasn't about to be insensitive about how her own pregnancy had been extensively planned. She put her hand on her friend's and squeezed comfortingly, making Lady look up and catch her eye with a guilty smile.

"I'm sorry. Just, sometimes I need to let off some steam, you know? It was hard being a working mother with three kids. But trying to work even part time and still maintain my career and some kind of social life now that there are five of them is pretty much impossible. I don't mean to scare you but being a mother isn't always amazingly good fun, especially when your partner works every hour God sends and you're still struggling to put food on the table at the end of the month sometimes. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you and Bonnie helping with babysitting and stuff." Lady said quietly. "I just feel like sometimes Jake doesn't pull his weight. He comes home from work and expects to just hang out with the kids and go to bed, he doesn't do the laundry or the cleaning or the discipline. He gets to be fun Daddy while I'm mean Mummy, the one who makes them brush their teeth and eat their greens."

"I'd have legit cannibalised other children to have a mother like you when I was small." Marcy replied. She'd only meant to think it but before she could stop herself the words were tumbling out of her mouth and honestly they might make Lady feel better.

"What, permanently exhausted and on the verge of a breakdown most of the time?"

"No, caring. Always there, no matter what. When my Mum left us she didn't stop to say goodbye and she didn't seem to care what it would do to me or Daddy. She didn't even let us know where she was going or if she was safe. I'll never forget the look on my father's face when the British Embassy in India called to inform him that her death certificate was finally back from the Indian government and she could legally be declared dead in the UK too. He didn't know she'd died already. So I think that doing everything you can to make sure your kids are happy and support Jake through opening his own business basically makes you Wonder Woman. You don't have to do all that stuff but you choose to, because you love your family. Because you're an excellent mother and partner."

"Right, shut up or I'm gonna start sobbing my eyes out here. You're the hormonal one, you're supposed to be an emotional mess in public not me." Lady replied in a voice that was edged just a little with tears.

"Shutting up. You wanna go get a manicure? I wanna get a manicure. Come on, my treat. I want someone to gossip with while they fix my nails, you've gotta fill me in on Finn's adventures in online dating because he refuses to tell me anything so I know something hilarious must have happened to him."

As she followed Lady up to the nail bar on the top floor of the department store Marcy nodded to herself, resolved. They'd make this a regular arrangement. Mothers needed to stick together and have the occasional break from their families. It was good to have a friend who got that, too.

...

"You can't wear blue and black together."

Marceline rolled her eyes in annoyance, although she admitted in the privacy of her own head that she should have seen that one coming.

"Is that my pillow?" Bonnie added, frowning at her girlfriend's stomach from where she was busily typing up something work related on her laptop.

"Uh, yeah? I just wanted to see what it'd look like with an actual bump underneath, it was sorta Lady's idea. She said it wouldn't fit properly yet but I wanted to try it out." Marceline replied a touch defensively. She had felt a tiny bit stupid shoving a pillow up her new shirt but she'd rather do anything in the world than admit it out loud.

Bonnie looked up from her screen again and levelled a long stare at Marceline's stomach. The redhead's eyes were still lined with exhaustion but it was just her usual level of burn out since they had a new locum doctor taking over King's shift rotation until the hospital got around to deciding a time for his disciplinary meeting. Lydia kept making jokes about replacing a King with a Princess since that was the new doctor's name, but Bonnie wouldn't have cared if she was called Doctor Empress Of The Entire Fucking Universe, so long as she was competent and had a better attitude than Dr King.

"Love, take the pillow out and lift up the shirt please?" Bonnie asked in a quiet voice. Nervously Marceline did as she was asked, fighting the urge to unconsciously suck her stomach in.

"Well?" she asked after a long minute when Bonnie failed to say anything.

"You're beginning to show. I can see a definite curve that wasn't there a couple of days ago. Does it feel different to you?"

"No, it feels exactly the same. Are you sure? Cause I'm about to get all emotional and if it turns out to be bloating or something I'll be very upset." Marcy replied softly.

"Certain. It's too low down to be intestinal bloating, unless you're really severely constipated."

"Right that's it, I'm adding that to the list of doctor words you're not allowed to say at home."

"Intestinal?"

"No, the c-word."

Bonnie rolled her eyes fondly.

"Love, I know you're squeamish about medical terms but literally every single human on the planet poops. And constipation is a common pregnancy symptom. It's not unreasonable to expect you might-"

"Bonnie! Please, just, stop." Marceline replied loudly, covering her ears for good measure.

"Just saying." Bonnie murmured to herself as she turned her attention back to her work.

Marceline frowned and flounced back to their bedroom in what her girlfriend would probably have described as a sulk. So far as she could see Bonnie had ruined what could have been a beautiful moment by bringing up gross medical stuff, like she always did. She was rummaging around putting her new clothes away, shirtless, when cool hands slid around her waist from behind and made her jump. Marcy hadn't heard Bonnie follow her upstairs; she supposed she'd been too focussed on being grouchy.

"Are you sulking, love?" Bonnie asked quietly, resting her head on Marceline's shoulder.

"No." Marcy replied sulkily.

"Are you certain? You sound like there's a little sulk in your voice. I bet if you turn around your bottom lip is sticking out in an adorable little pout."

"Go away, I do not pout." Marceline countered, trying hard not to pout. Bonnie slid around her and despite her best efforts the redhead ended up standing in front of her with her arms circling Marcy's shoulders, smiling triumphantly and trying to catch her eye.

"Yep, that's a little Marcy pout alright. Look there, it's all tiny and cute and pouty. I bet there's a smile behind it. Let's see, I bet there's a secret button I can push that'll make you smile." Bonnie continued mischievously. Marcy tried to wriggle away half-heartedly when Bonnie's hands slid down her sides and started tickling her but before she broke free she realised an embarrassed smile had crept onto her face while she wasn't paying attention.

"Butthole." she said to Bonnie around her giggles.

"Faecal Encephalopath." Bonnie replied with her most devious grin. Marceline's brow furrowed in thought as she tried to work it out, it had been a long time since she'd studied Latin and Classical Greek in school.

"Did you just call me a shit head?" she asked after a long minute's thought.

"I wouldn't dream of it." Bonnie replied innocently, and kissed her on the tip of the nose. Marceline rolled her eyes and kissed her back. "I've still got some stuff to finish up, are you coming back downstairs?" Bonnie added.

"Yeah, in a minute. Just wanna check something."

Bonnie nodded and left her to it, but she hesitated in the hall and after a moment's indecision peeked stealthily back around the bedroom door. Marcy was standing sideways in front of the mirror, running a hand wondrously across the new curve that had appeared on her stomach. Bonnie smiled to herself, mischief replaced with simple tender love, and left her to the joys of discovering her bump in peace.


	9. Week 9

**Guess what? We're going on holiday next month! I am so indescribably happy about this, guys! I can't tell you how long it's been since I went anywhere overseas that wasn't just visiting my fiancée's family and the somewhat boring small town she grew up in. But my amazing and wonderful aunt randomly decided she was taking all of us to Crete for a week at the end of June. It'd be uncool to go on holiday with your parents and aunt when you're an adult except my aunt is definitely the coolest little old lady ever.**

 **Tough biatch of a chapter coming up today, one of the first ones I wrote for this fic actually. It really amused me to rewrite the Scream Queens as a fancypants string quartet though.**

 **Content Warning: Medical stuff! Morning sickness! Drama! Dudes having not-at-all-graphic gay sexing with dudes! Because it turns out I can't just write about cozy happy lesbians, because other kinds of gay people also exist. Man people. Man gays. And they deserve to have happy endings too.**

* * *

Marceline could have played the Blue Danube Waltz in her sleep, she barely had to even glance at the sheet music any more. Which was lucky because for some reason she was struggling to make out the shapes of the notation written there; they writhed and ran together before her eyes. She blinked, confused, trying to figure out why her vision had suddenly gone blurry. The music didn't sound right anyway, something was off about the rhythm. She stopped playing and motioned the others to stop too.

"Wait, guys. Someone's not keeping tempo." Marcy said, staring around at her students' faces. They blinked back at her before Guy cleared his throat and drew her attention.

"Um, I think, um, actually it was you that time. It was the cello, you were a half beat behind us." he mumbled bravely.

Keila and Bongo nodded their agreement and Marcy frowned at them all. That couldn't be right, she'd been playing in string quartets and orchestras since her early teens and there was no way she would mess up the Blue Danube. She could play every part of it on every instrument in the quartet, had been able to for years.

"...a break and come back with a fresh head?"

She tuned back in to catch the end of what Keila had been saying. The violinist stared at her worriedly.

"Just you don't look well, Marcy. You've gone really pale." she added.

"Still a bit ill." Marceline mumbled in reply. She felt quite pale too, fuzzy, like everything was taking a second too long to make sense of.

They decided on taking a half hour break and coming back to it afterwards. Marcy slipped out of the practice hall and onto the university quad to get a little air. It was uncomfortably stuffy in there and the fresh air would help, she was sure of it.

The university grounds were pretty much deserted that late in the afternoon. Lectures had finished for the day and there were only the Orchestral Artistry group and a couple of soloists practicing in the building next door still hanging around the music department. Marceline slid onto her favourite bench in a sheltered spot in the corner and rested a hand protectively on her belly. It was still mostly flat, despite the new curve that had appeared the week before. At a glance it looked even thinner than usual since she hadn't been able to eat much for the last month and a half. But she'd found herself hyper aware of it, talking to it and touching it whenever she was alone.

"Hey tiny one. Are you feeling well today? Better than your Mum I hope. I feel like total shit. Sorry. I shouldn't swear, you didn't hear that word from me if your Mama asks, yeah? Wish you'd let me sleep properly and eat stuff. Even that gross ginger tea didn't help any today. Now you're donking up my cello too and that's not cool, baby. I gotta concentrate, the postgrad Guildhall concert is really important and I can't let my students down, they need this to graduate. One day I'll teach you to play in a string quartet, too. Promise. Don't you like Strauss, baby? You're not one of those Wagner traitors, are you? I'm just kidding, Wagner's pretty cool."

Her stomach churned in response. The familiar nausea rolled up like a wave and made her pitch forwards off the bench, almost falling to her knees on the ground. She stayed upright and managed not to be sick but it was a close thing. Marceline glanced around guilty to see if anyone had noticed. The only other people around were a couple of older professors going into one of the physics buildings on the far side of the quad and they had their backs to her. Probably safe enough but she should maybe find a bathroom anyway, the nausea never went far and it had been so bad for the last couple of days. She'd not been able to keep anything at all down, not even the ginger tea. Plus she seemed to have picked up a nasty cold from somewhere, she felt dazed and disorientated as she stumbled back across the quad towards the music buildings.

Keila was probably out on the fire exit smoking and she had no idea where Bongo and Guy had disappeared to. The practice hall was silent and empty. Marceline hurried across the room towards the long mess of corridors behind the small stage. There were a couple of mostly abandoned toilet blocks around there and she wanted to make it to the small one by the basement door, the one nobody ever used unless the nearer bathrooms were all occupied.

At least with the whole building deserted like that she could guarantee nobody would hear her throwing her guts up. The nausea rolled again as if just thinking about it had caused it to rear its head and she quickened her pace. Distantly she was aware that she should probably be alarmed because the world was spinning like she was drunk and she had no idea what she was really doing anymore except going to find somewhere to be sick. No idea why it was so important to make it to the distant toilet block.

Everything was faint and she was scarily light headed, acutely aware that she hadn't managed to keep down anything, not even water, for far longer than was strictly healthy. Bonnie would probably have a few angry things to say about that if she found out, she'd be in for such a stern doctoring lecture when she got home. Not that Bonnie had been around so much over the last week; still covering half of Dr King's rotations since their new locum could only work limited hours. Finally Marcy pushed the door of the tiny bathroom open and stumbled forward with her stomach lurching again, but it wasn't empty like she'd expected.

"FUCK!" yelled a man's voice, and why was Guy on his knees in front Bongo with the beefy viola player's hands buried in the slimmer boy's hair, why were Bongo's jeans unbuttoned and slid halfway down his legs? More importantly, why was the world tilting and the floor rushing up to meet her? Why-

"Ah shit, dude, call an ambulance!" she distantly heard someone shout, over the sudden loud rushing noise crowding her ears and the rustling of denim being hastily pulled back up.

Then Guy's face was swimming in her vision and he was tapping the side of her head and saying something that could have been her name if she concentrated. Vaguely, through the clouds that were drifting over her mind, she registered what he'd been doing and tried to tell him to get lost, _go breathe your gross cockbreath over someone else, you guys can't fuck at work._

...

"Dr Sugar! Urgent call for you! Um, they said it's from the university?"

 _Marcy! The baby!_

She was up and sprinting behind the reception desk to their extension before the words were fully out of Lydia's mouth, grabbing the phone out of her hands and almost dropping it in her rush. Lydia watched apprehensively as the colour drained from her colleague's face.

"Hello? Yes, I'm her partner, Bonnibel Sugar. Ok? Yes, yes of course I was already aware. Please, I'm a doctor, I know what it's called. Where? Ok. Yes. Thank you for letting me know."

She hung up the phone shakily and turned back towards her office to fetch her bag and keys. Lydia stared at her.

"Hey, um, is everything ok with Marcy?" she asked timidly when it became obvious the doctor wasn't going to tell her what was happening.

"Yeah, yeah she fainted at work and banged her head so someone called an ambulance, they blue lighted her across to Parkview. Let administration know where I've gone, please." Bonnie replied distantly. She was already halfway out of the door.

Lydia sighed quietly as she watched her boss hurry out of sight. It was just bloody good luck that Dr King was suspended, she thought. Everyone knew that he was after Bonnie's job. Between him and Jason Toronto their trainee radiotechnician and King's new best friend the tension in the department was getting unbearable. Lydia kept half expecting to come into work and find Dr Sugar mounting Dr King's head on a pike to hang from their office window as a warning to other marauding oncologists not to fuck with her department. He would just love any chance to make her look bad; she was glad he wasn't there to see it. Lydia sighed again as the door banged shut behind Dr Sugar. No doubt she'd have to pick up the pieces of whatever drama was happening, like always.

The hospital Bonnie worked at was on the other side of the city centre so it made sense that from the university buildings they'd have taken Marceline to Parkview Hospital instead. Bonnie's brain whirled ceaselessly as she drove, analysisng the route the ambulance would probably have taken given the rush hour traffic, roadworks on the southern stretch of the bypass, the likely handover time at A&E. Marcy might even be on a ward already depending on how long the admin staff at the university had waited before calling her emergency contact. Anything to keep from thinking about all the terrible things that could be happening, that at only nine and a bit weeks Marcy was still in the high risk period to miscarry. Bonnie parked haphazardly in a visitor's bay and hurried into the unfamiliar hospital, vaguely aware she was still wearing her NHS ID and a lab coat because she'd been on her way back from the lab when the call had come. She'd probably get mistaken for staff a lot and really she was quite prepared to exploit that if it was helpful. The receptionist certainly seemed to think she was a new colleague and gave her Marcy's file without question, she flicked through it distractedly while she made for the stairs. There was a lot in there about anaemia, intermittent dizzy spells and severe dehydration due to hyperemesis gravidarum but none of the terrifying medical terminology she'd had circling her thoughts like vultures. Nothing to suggest anything had happened to the baby. No bleeding, no abdominal pains or ectopic implantation. Bonnie let out a deep breath of relief. If something happened to the baby Marceline would be inconsolable, she might never get over it. Bonnie wished there was anything at all she could do to spare her partner from that agony if it happened but there was no easy way to avoid miscarriage, it was just a risk they'd agreed was worth it for the chance at having a family. Once she reached the ward however there was a much more immediate problem to deal with.

"-can go to hell with your 'patient confidentiality'! That's my only daughter in there! You tell me what's wrong with her right now or so help me God I'll take matters into my own hands!"

"Sir if you don't calm down we're going to have to call security!"

A small squarish nurse was cowering back from the full death glare of an enraged Hunson Abadeer who was towering over her with cold blooded murder in his eyes. Behind him the window to a private room was blocked by drawn curtains. Presumably that was were Marcy was and Hunson seemed to be in the dark about what was wrong with her. Bonnie took a brief second to curse whichever moron at the university had decided it would be a good idea to call Marceline's father too.

"Hunson." she said quietly, drawing his attention to her. He whirled and his anger turned to obvious relief when he saw her.

"Bonnibel, good, they called you too. Please tell this fool I have every right to know what's wrong with Marceline. Please? You're a doctor, you can overrule her."

"Not unless I particularly want to be struck off. But I'm not medically responsible for Marcy right now, I can tell you from a personal role not a professional one. She's dehydrated and anaemic. She fainted at work and banged her head and she's probably sleeping or trying to so I'm sure she'd appreciate it if you'd lower your voice, please. Here's your file back." Bonnie added, handing the medical notes to the nurse who snatched them with a sour glare and marched off to the staff lounge muttering under her breath. Hunson sank into one of the plastic chairs bolted to the wall and let his head fall into his hands.

"Why is she anaemic? Why didn't you notice? She's been off colour for weeks now, what's wrong with her?" he muttered after a moment.

Bonnie sat carefully next to him, unsure how much she should reveal. Marceline didn't want her father to know yet because he'd fuss and probably want to have emotional conversations about her Mum and she didn't want to deal with that until she had to. But he already thought she was ill and he'd lost his wife in awful circumstances when Marcy was still small, it was cruel to make the older man think his only child was seriously ill too. And it didn't help that Marceline's father was a bit weird and intense and always made Bonnie ever so slightly uncomfortable when she was alone with him.

"She's not been completely well for a few weeks but it's nothing serious, exactly, and she's going to get better." Bonnie finally replied, picking her words carefully.

"What's wrong with her?" he repeated, turning to look at the younger woman.

"It wouldn't be right for me to tell you. She has to make that decision for herself."

He stood again, paced a little and then sighed and ran his hands through his hair in the exact same frustrated motion his daughter made. Bonnie knew that if it had been anyone else he'd have argued but he respected her and her medical opinion at least.

"Can I go in and see her?" he asked at last.

"I guess so, they haven't said not to. They haven't told me anything either, I just got that from stealing her file at reception."

Hunson levelled her a stare that was part disapproval and part admiration. She just shrugged, no point not using the fact she passed for staff if they were going to make it easy for her. Besides it would be the hospital who would be liable for breaching confidentiality if Marcy decided to sue them, she was hardly going to sue her own girlfriend.

Hunson knocked quietly on the door and entered after a moment, Bonnie wasn't sure if he'd gotten a reply from inside or not. She stood and followed him into the room. The side of Marcy's head was bandaged and there was an IV of saline rehydration fluid attached to her hand but she was awake and peering up blearily at them from the hospital bed.

"Daddy. Hey. Um, Bon. I hit my head." she indicated bewilderedly towards the bandage with the hand that wasn't attached to a drip.

"Pumpkin, I was so worried about you!" Hunson said as he crouched by her side and took her hand. "You've been so pale for weeks and you're getting so thin, are you sick? Please, just tell me. I hate to see you ill like this."

"Daddy please, I'm fine. I just have a really bad cold and I tripped-"

"Fainted. Bonnibel said you fainted, it was on your file." Hunson corrected her with a frown.

"Geez thanks, Bon." Marcy glared at her girlfriend, breaking off into a wince when she moved her head too fast.

"Love, I think we should just tell him. At this point I think a lie would be pointless and disrespectful." Bonnie replied with a shrug. She was too numb with relief that nothing really awful had happened to feel guilty for it. The boys and Lady already knew, it was only a few weeks from their dating scan anyway and telling an outright lie to Hunson would only upset him when he learned the truth. He looked between them in confusion, heavy brows pulled darkly together.

"Yeah, ok. You're probably right." Marcy sighed. "So, um, Daddy. I have hypergravy thingy-"

"Hyperemesis gravidarum." Bonnie supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, that. And that's what's making me sick and anaemic because I can't keep my vitamins down, I'm getting really nauseated with it, like, every day and it's probably gonna keep making me sick for about another month or so?"

"About that, maybe a bit less." Bonnie agreed. Hunson was staring between them both with his mouth hanging open.

"But hyperemesis gravidarum is severe morning sickness. Your mother had that when she was pregnant with with you." he managed after a second. "So... so you're..."

"Nine weeks pregnant. You're gonna be a grandfather." Marcy finished for him quietly.

There was a first time for everything, Bonnie supposed, and that was the first time she ever saw Marceline's imposing and sometimes terrifying father cry. He hugged her too, a lot, and probably got tears on her lab coat. She didn't mind at all though. Of all the things she'd ever been called out of work for being cried on by Hunson was easily her favourite.

...

It was two days later and Bongo was sure his heart was about to burst from anxiety. But she'd said to come by for a chat at lunchtime and it was well past twelve already, he couldn't put it off any longer. He knocked politely on his tutor's office door and waited to be invited in.

Marcy looked up from her paperwork when the big guy entered and motioned him to take the empty seat on the other side of her desk.

"Thanks for coming by, Henry. I wanted to properly thank you for calling the ambulance when I fainted the other day. I'm sure there are all kinds of weird rumours going around but the truth is much less exciting. I'm pregnant, we're due in the spring next year. Turns out Baby Abadeer doesn't like Strauss."

"Oh wow, congratulations. Is your head ok?" Bongo replied politely. He was very aware she was using his given name instead of his nickname and that didn't bode well at all.

"Yes thanks, it was just a cut. They let me out of the hospital the next morning. I actually wanted to talk to you about what was going on just before my fainting spell." she continued. Bongo felt his heart seize for a moment.

"Look, I can explain. It was just a one off; we were just blowing off some steam-"

"Not your finest choice of words, Henry."

He winced. Yeah probably better to keep expressions like 'blowing off' out of it completely.

"Look, I've been there. I know how it can be, figuring out how you identify. And I know how badly hormones can mess you up, believe me. But I've seen the way Guy looks at you and for him it's clearly not just casual. And you've got a girlfriend too if I remember right?" Marceline continued.

He nodded, overcome with shame. This was it, he was going to get outed and thrown out of university for misconduct, he was certain of it. At least she had the balls to tell him to his face, he thought.

"I've not informed the Dean or department heads and I won't be taking it further this time. But I want you to have a long hard think about being true to yourself and whether you think it's fair to stay in a relationship with someone you can cheat on so casually and regularly. I know it wasn't a one time thing, Henry. You guys went there directly, it was prearranged. Wasn't it?" she prompted gently.

There was no point lying to her, and besides she'd saved his career instead of reporting him and getting him kicked out. Bongo nodded, unable to meet her eyes even as he let out a long relieved breath.

"It's just hard." he murmured guiltily after a second. "I feel like there's so much expectation on me, all the time. But Guy just wants to make me feel good, like, he doesn't care about the family name or living up to my Dad's legacy. Dad was this big time musician and he wanted me to follow in his footsteps. He died a couple years ago and I just, I want to be good enough for his memory. But Guy just wants to make me feel good, to get to know me and not just my father's son. How can I come out, though? Classical music might have a reputation in other departments for being feminine but you know as much as anyone how much of a homophobic sausage fest the orchestra can be."

"Henry, I've lived openly with my girlfriend for much longer than I've worked here. I've been out as a lesbian since my teens." Marceline told him softly. She indicated a photo on her desk that he'd never really paid any attention to before. It showed a slightly younger Dr Abadeer, maybe younger than he was, with her arms wrapped lovingly around a slim ginger girl in front of the Eiffel Tower. The way the two girls in the photo were smiling into each other's eyes left no room for mistaking the nature of their relationship. Oh. He felt like such a fool for never noticing, he'd just assumed she was straight. Bongo had always thought that lesbians looked really obvious, with short hair and facial piercings and lumberjack boots. Dr Abadeer usually dressed in casual blouses and jeans. Her hair was waist length and tied back in a long straight braid or ponytail most of the time and she had an intimidating collection of beautiful ball gowns that she wore at performances. If he'd thought about it at all Bongo would probably have expected a lesbian to wear a suit or something.

"Like I said," Marceline continued when she saw how shell shocked he looked, "I know how difficult it can be to work out who you are and what you want. I'm not just here to advise you with your music career, you know."

Bongo nodded, unable to meet her eyes.

"I don't even know how to start fixing this." he finally admitted, staring down at his hands and trying not to cry about it. Goddammit, he was twenty four years old, he was not about to cry.

"Start by being honest with your girlfriend. If you want to be with her then be with her. If she's happy for you to see other people too then so long as you agree some rules beforehand and stick to them that's fine, too. If not then you should do the honourable thing and let her know you can't be with her. But either way, if it was me I'd want you to be honest. Take your time and think about it, think about what you'll be giving up and what you'll be gaining if you choose to come out. Remember that you have to live with the consequences of your actions and decisions, so try to choose something that lets you sleep at night. And Henry?"

He looked up, meeting his tutor's eye for the first time since he entered her office.

"Yeah?"

"Good luck, whatever you decide. I just want you to know I'm not judging you for it."

"Thank you, Dr Abadeer."

She cocked her head a little and offered him a slightly puzzled smile.

"Revenge because I'm calling you 'Henry'?"

He grinned back, finally feeling a little lighter and more resolved than he had in months. It felt good that someone knew and wasn't judging him for it.

"Yeah. I figured if you were gonna make it weird I would retaliate."

"Fair enough. Bugger off out of my office, Bongo. I've got some badly written fresher essays to grade, I've got horrible morning sickness and my head still aches a bit where I landed on it the other day."

"Sure. Thanks, Marcy."

Marceline watched him go, slouching out of the door with the ghost of a smile still on his face. She'd be willing to bet her right arm that he'd be out and a lot happier by Christmas. With a satisfied smile the turned her attention back to her work computer, thinking she'd have a look through her emails and try to procrastinate before having to start trying to read the worst essays ever written. She'd already eaten and managed to keep it down. The hospital had sent her home with much more effective anti-nausea medication and she was feeling better than she had in weeks despite the lingering queasiness and occasional bout of exhaustion. When she looked at her inbox there was a message waiting for her that hadn't been there when Bongo had knocked on her door.

 _Dear Marceline,_

 _I hope this message finds you well. I'm back on this side of the pond for a couple of weeks and thought perhaps you'd like to meet for a coffee? I have a proposal that I think you might be interested in and I'm always glad to catch up with my leading lady. Let me know when you're available, I'm here until the end of October. If there's a day that's convenient for you I'd very much like to talk with you._

 _Kind regards,_

 _Eberhardt_

Well, that was unexpected. Marcy grinned to herself as she tapped out a reply, letting him know when she was free and that she'd love to catch up with her former tutor. Whatever his proposal was it would be exciting, no doubt. Eberhardt didn't do things by halves. He was flamboyant and funny, definitely someone who'd informed her own lecturing style. She sent a quick reply then reluctantly opened the first fresher document, resigned to an afternoon of unreadably bad essay grading.


	10. Week 10

**Week 10. Things are going to begin to move a little faster, now that the first trimester is drawing to a close. A massive thank you to everyone who followed/favourite so far, and to all my wonderful reviewers! You guys are so sweet, you make writing so rewarding.**

 **Just a quick note, remember the piano/bow tie guy in Henchman waaaay back in the first series? Well his name, according to the Adventure Time wikia, is Eberhardt. And he is a classical musician, canonically. So I'd have dropped the ball pretty badly not to include him somewhere in this story and besides I like him. So have an Eberhardt! I had to invent a surname for him (didn't _have to_ but kinda wanted to) and I had an idea. See if you recognise it.**

 **Content Warning: animal euthanasia, unashamed nerdiness.**

* * *

Monday morning dawned bright and fine, but that was really the only good thing about it. By the time eleven o'clock rolled around Marceline was checking her phone every five minutes, certain it couldn't take more than two hours to fire Dr King. Bonnie had promised to call the minute the disciplinary hearing was finished. On the one hand Marcy was glad the board of directors were taking their time, nobody could accuse them of not thinking through their decision. But knowing her partner was stressed to the point where she'd been angrily muttering King's name in her sleep last night was putting Marceline on edge too. At least, she hoped that was why Bonnie had been saying his name in her sleep. The possibility that she'd been having any other kind of dream about him was simply revolting.

Bonnie had been tense and snappy that morning. Marceline had tried to just stay out of her way and make their breakfast routine run as smoothly as possible because she knew Bonnie was worried about the hearing. It hadn't helped that Peppermint had mauled and dragged home a pigeon in the night and apparently left the joy of finishing it off for his owners. He'd sat next to the feebly fluttering bird mewling proudly while Bonnie rushed from the kitchen in distress and left the unpleasant task of putting the poor creature out of its misery to her girlfriend. For a doctor she was weirdly squeamish about injured animals. So Marcy had sighed resignedly and looked away while she snapped the bird's neck and put it regretfully in the outside bin. The first time Peppermint had brought an injured mouse home Bonnie had insisted they rush it to the vet, who looked at them both like they were a bit crazy and immediately put it to sleep.

"He just does it because he loves us, it's normal cat behaviour." Marcy had tried to explain. She'd figured maybe it would have soothed her partner some.

"Next time I say I want a pet remind me how much I hate animals being in pain. Don't bother with breakfast, I can't face anything." Bonnie had replied a little sulkily. Marcy just sighed and put the kettle on, Bonnie would at least need some coffee if she was going to spend the morning listening to King trash her to the hospital directors.

By the time she'd left the house at eight Bonnie had been a nervous wreck and there wasn't anything Marceline could do to help. She'd half-heartedly practiced a few movements on her violin but given it up as a bad job when she found she'd been distractedly playing the same few bars over and over. So instead she'd taken a slow walk into work, murmuring reassurances to her bump the whole way, vaguely wondering if it was too early to think about buying baby clothes. Perhaps they'd go late night shopping, some of the shops in town opened until eight on a Monday night and she was sure it'd cheer Bonnie up some. Marcy spent the morning trying to explain how the classical waltz had evolved from traditional German folk music throughout the nineteenth century to a small group of sleepy second year undergrads. When her lecture ended at ten thirty she checked her voicemail; no messages. By eleven she was starting to really worry. Just before quarter past her phone finally rang.

"Hey! How'd it go? Did they fire him?"

"That utter _bastard_ got off with a formal warning. They had the fucking nerve to insinuate that I was overreacting! Because of course a woman isn't allowed to be legitimately angry about anything without it being to do with their silly girly hormones. I half expected them to just go the whole way and ask if I was on my period or something. Dammit, I hate this place sometimes!"

Marceline winced in sympathy, she'd be pretty angry if management didn't back her up with disciplining her department too, not that she really had anyone to discipline. Nobody except Bongo, and he'd seemed pretty quiet and thoughtful when she'd said hello to him that morning. Probably still working out whether to live a lie for the rest of his life or not.

"Do you wanna get an early lunch? I can grab a taxi across town and meet you at that nice sandwich place?" Marcy asked instead.

"I'm not hungry. Too angry to be hungry." Bonnie replied. She sounded more sad and tired than angry, though.

"Babe, you've gotta eat. You missed breakfast and you've got to make it through till, like, seven tonight."

"Five. He's back on the ward, swanning around smirking at everyone like he's done something terribly clever. The bastard."

"Just come to the sandwich shop, please? I know you'll feel better for some food. The baby wants you to eat."

"That's a pretty cheap manipulation."

"Did it work?"

Bonnie sighed heavily down the phone.

"Yeah, it worked. I'll be there in about half an hour."

...

Marceline ordered her girlfriend's sandwich while she waited, pretty certain she knew what Bonnie would want to eat. The redhead arrived at the same time as the food, sliding into the seat next to Marcy just before the waitress brought their sandwiches.

"Swiss cheese and salad?" Bonnie asked by way of greeting.

"Yep."

"Baby plum tomatoes not cherry?"

"Of course."

"Mayo?"

"A tiny scraping on the top of the bun. Eight and a bit years, babe. I know your sandwich order."

"You're the best." Bonnie sighed, and dropped a kiss onto Marcy's cheek. "Sorry I've been such a colossal dilweed today. At least if King puts another toe out of line he'll be fired pretty much on the spot. This is his final warning."

"Good to know. Now eat, you crazy monkey. Or I'm gonna have to tell you the baby's sad because you're hungry." Marcy replied with a gentle smile.

"M'not hungry." Bonnie muttered around a massive bite of sandwich. Marceline just smiled a little more and picked at her own lunch. She wasn't feeling too sick thanks to the new medication but she still didn't have much appetite.

"So at least you're getting out of work a bit earlier tonight though. Silver linings, yeah? You wanna go look at adorable tiny person clothes at the late night shops?" Marcy asked after a while.

"Mm, kay." Bonnie replied around another enormous bite.

"You know if you choke you'll have to Heimlich yourself, I have no idea how to do it."

"Sorry. Guess I was hungry after all." Bonnie murmured a little guiltily. "Thanks for looking after me."

"That's what I do, I take care of my lady."

They finished lunch with a low murmur of casual conversation and left the shop together. Bonnie gave Marceline a lift back to the music department before heading back to work.

"Got much planned for the afternoon?" Marceline asked as they drove, aiming for casual but probably missing it. Bonnie spared her a confused glance; Marcy never asked her about work.

"A clinical review on a retinoblastoma patient, the daily prescription rounds and then more paperwork, just for a change. You?" Bonnie eventually replied, also trying to keep her tone casual.

"Lecturing, playing music, lecturing. Nothing dead exciting but it's nice to have a pretty chill day. I'll be done at four, want me to drop by home and feed the kitties before we go out?" Marceline added. She was proud of herself for making the effort to ask about Bonnie's work, even if it was in the most general terms. Baby steps, she'd work up to hearing all the gory details one day.

"Yeah, if you don't mind. Or you can just hang at work and I'll pick you up from there, it's not like they can't wait a couple of hours."

"I might then, depends how much grading I manage to get through while my practical group are playing. I'll text you and let you know." Marcy replied as they pulled into the university car park. She gave Bonnie a brief kiss goodbye before sliding from the car and waving her off. At least she'd made sure Bonnie ate, and she'd asked about work even though she had a phobia of cancer. Marcy nodded to herself, she was totally nailing the supportive girlfriend thing after all.

...

In the end they didn't stay out so late shopping anyway. Despite the excellent medication and improvement in her ability to eat recently Marceline was exhausted before it was even seven. Instead they went home, weighed down with what felt like every single item of baby clothes that Marcy could find. Bonnie was unpacking the clothes and folding them into piles on the sofa while her girlfriend threw together a quick late dinner for them.

"Love, I thought we were just getting gender neutral stuff until we had the baby's sex confirmed?" she frowned when Marcy appeared balancing two plates of pasta.

"Yeah? Tiny bow ties are gender neutral, I have several really lovely bow ties. Bow ties are cool." Marceline nodded.

"You know, anyone who recognises that as a Doctor Who quote isn't gonna be impressed and everyone else will just think it sounds a bit weird. You have to stop telling people bow ties are cool."

"But look at this one." Marcy continued, putting the food down on the coffee table and picking up the little black and yellow bow tie she must have sneaked into their basket while Bonnie wasn't looking. "It's in Hufflepuff house colours! He's gonna look like a cool little Harry Potter wizard baby."

"Uhuh, is that the cat house or the snake house?" Bonnie asked distractedly, already flicking through the TV channels for something to put on in the background while they ate.

"Oh my God, Bon. It's a lion not a cat and that's Gryffindor. You're such a bad fake nerd."

"I stopped watching the Harry Potter movies after there were giant spiders everywhere. I like the bossy girl though, I really identified with her."

"Hermione Granger. Yeah, I can see that. Always figured you for a Ravenclaw though." Marcy added thoughtfully.

"Which one is that, is that the snake one?"

"No, that's Slytherin. Ravenclaw's house emblem is an eagle. When the baby's old enough I'll read the Harry Potter books to him, you're hopeless."

"Deal. Oh look, Twilight's on!"

"If I'd been Bella I'd have gone full Buffy The Vampire Slayer on Edward's whiny ass and staked the crap out of him." Marcy nodded, "Maybe you're not a fake nerd after all."

"Shh, I wanna watch this."

Marceline rolled her eyes but dutifully shut up and let her partner watch the end of the movie she must have seen at least a hundred times already. It was Bonnie's comfort film; if she was having a particularly hard time with stress or PMS or something Marcy could pretty much guarantee the redhead would be curled up on the sofa with Cinnamon watching Twilight and sighing wistfully. Marceline had never really understood the fascination but she was willing to put up with it, for Bonnie's sake. Yeah, definitely nailing the supportive girlfriend thing.

"You wanna come have a bubble bath with me? My back kinda aches and I thought it'd be a nice way to relax together." Marceline murmured once the film ended. Bonnie turned from where she'd sprawled across her girlfriend's lap and smiled up a little sleepily at her.

"Yeah, that sounds lovely. I can give you a back rub after if it's still bothering you."

Marcy ran them a bath while Bonnie finished putting away the new baby clothes, taking a little longer than usual and making sure she had a really thorough look at every single item. She was trying to imagine what they'd look like with an actual baby in them. Perhaps he'd be born with a full head of tufty black hair like Marcy had been. Hunson had wasted no time showing Bonnie his daughter's baby photos the first time she'd come over for dinner, much to Marceline's horror. Bonnie sighed a little nostalgically as she put the last of the baby clothes in the spare drawer she'd cleared for them. If she'd have known eight years ago that this was where she'd end up she wouldn't have been disappointed, but maybe it wasn't completely what she'd expected either.

Marcy had been absolutely smitten with adorable babies from the moment she'd held Kim as a newborn and Lady had shyly asked her to be his godmother. Bonnie had taken a lot longer to warm up to the idea, no matter that she was now certain she wanted to be a parent with her partner. But the time was fast approaching when she'd have to tell the rest of her family and while she was certain they'd be supportive part of her was dreading having to admit such a massive change of heart. Because when her mother asked Bonnie had always sworn that she had enough to do with kids at work, she didn't want any of her own. With Ned being pretty much an asexual loner she was her parents' last hope for grandchildren and she wasn't completely sure they'd be thrilled that it was Marceline carrying the baby. What if her mother refused to accept him as her grandson? She hadn't exactly been happy when Bonnie had come out, she was well aware that her mother thought she was making life hard for herself. Well there was nothing she could do about it but be honest and hope her father would help mellow her mother out a bit. Ned wouldn't be much help but Ned never was. Besides he really clashed with Marceline, Bonnie always tried to limit their exposure to each other wherever possible because it was horrible to be in the middle of them glaring daggers at each other. She shrugged and put it out of her mind; they were waiting to tell her family until after their first scan anyway. For tonight she was just going to go and enjoy bathing with her lovely girlfriend and forget about the accumulated stresses of the day.

...

Tuesday evening didn't turn out at all how Marceline had expected when she'd agreed to meet up with her former tutor. She recognised him first by his mop of tight greying curls and then his signature floppy red bow tie when he turned around, scanning the coffee shop for her. Bow ties were cool; they must be if Eberhardt wore one.

"Eberhardt Haus, you haven't changed a bit."

He looked around the crowded coffee shop at the familiar voice and spotted Marceline at a table by the window, already cradling a cup of tea and grinning at him in that irrepressible way that had first endeared her to him as an undergraduate. She stood and waved him over, pulling him into a hug the moment he was close enough.

"Marcy! I could say the same, you're just as radiant as ever!" How's life on the other side of the desk treating you? I heard you retired from the road and settled down to a cushy lecturing position."

"All of it true, I'm afraid. I got sick of always being away from home." she replied as they sat down together.

"Ah yes, the bliss of domestication. I was married once myself, you know. So you're enjoying lecturing?"

She nodded, still every bit as unconsciously charismatic as she'd been when she first knocked on his office door as a first year undergraduate coming to meet her personal tutor. She reminded Eberhardt of his daughter, he was glad she was doing well.

"For the most part I love it. God, but some of the undergrads are a bit thick, Eb. How did you cope with us all those years?"

"Every now and then one or two of you weren't completely hopeless. I've known people with decades of professional experience who couldn't handle a double bass with half the skill you had as a grass green eighteen year old." he smiled back.

"You old flatterer, now you have me wondering what you're after." Marcy teased. "Have you eaten? They do a very acceptable range of cakes and baked goods here."

"I've eaten, but you go ahead if you want. You're looking a little underfed, my dear." Eberhardt replied.

Marceline shrugged and picked up the cake menu. Perhaps she'd risk something light, but she really didn't feel much like eating.

"I'll cut right to it, Marceline. I didn't stay at the university very long after you left to pursue your PhD. I was offered an opportunity to audition for the New York Symphony Orchestra and of course I jumped at the chance, been there ever since. Well recently a retirement at the top means I've somehow managed to get the conductor role and I'm eager to shake up the orchestra and take it somewhere new and exciting. I find myself in need of someone I can trust to take over as concertmaster now that I'll be conducting. Someone who's played in orchestras before, someone with so much natural talent they barely even need conducting. We need fresh blood, new perspectives. And like always, I want the best. So, how would you feel about moving across the water and taking on something a bit more glamorous than showing hung over teenagers which end of the violin goes under their chins? It'd be subject to an audition of course but this is an invitation only vacancy. If you put your name forward then the position is yours, no contest."

Marceline gaped at him like he'd just offered to crown her queen of the whole world. The concertmaster position in any orchestra was second in command to the conductor, no matter how talented she might be the concertmaster was almost always a musician twice her age. If she accepted she'd be responsible for the entire string section, making technical decisions and auditioning other principal musicians. She'd essentially be managing the whole orchestra with Eberhardt.

"Eb," she finally managed to reply, still shocked to her core, "I'm flattered. I can't tell you how flattered. I mean, concertmaster? That's... just, huge. But I can't accept, it's not a good time for me."

"I realise that leaving the middle of a semester is going to be a wrench for your students but think about what an opportunity this is! You'd be second in command with one of the most influential orchestras in the world. I always knew you'd make history, Marcy. And this is how you begin." Eberhardt pushed. His eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, just like they had when she'd first played a solo cello movement for him and he'd discovered that in his usual intake of mediocre undergrads he had someone with genuine talent, more than he'd seen in years. He was certain that exceptional talent wouldn't be wasted in New York.

"It's not the students, Eb. I mean, I genuinely care about them too. I'm enjoying lecturing so much more than I thought I would. But it's personal reasons. I can't go through the huge stress of starting a new job in a new country right now. Besides, it's not just about me anymore." she replied, shaking her head regretfully. He didn't notice the hand she slid across the edge of her sweater to rest against the new slight curve on her stomach.

"A girlfriend, then? Marry her, you lot can do that now. And then she can come with you." Eberhardt shrugged.

"Bonnie doesn't believe in it. And I'll be honest, I'm not that keen on getting married myself, especially not just for administrative purposes. She's a doctor, Eb. Only just made consultant about a year and a half ago and she's already running her own department, she's just... magnificent. Bonnie's someone who's really going places. I can't ask her to give up her whole career to follow me across an ocean. She already spent years waiting for me to finish touring around the world with various orchestras."

"They have sick people in America too you know. And a lot better salaries than the National Health Service can offer, believe me. Better equipment, better quality of life for someone at the top of their game. Your amazing doctor girlfriend could go places over there too. Come on, Marcy! Say yes! This is the opportunity of a lifetime!"

He could see that part of her was tempted, that it was a wrench for her to turn him down. In the past it had been a simple case of applying just the right amount of pressure and praise at just the right point of her ego and she'd have flown halfway across the world to perform, eager for a chance to show just how brilliantly she could shine. Eberhardt couldn't understand what had changed in the intervening years.

"Look, there's clearly more to this than your girlfriend's career. You give me one good reason why England could offer you more than America and I'll gladly accept a 'no'. But I'll be very surprised if you can think of-"

"I'm pregnant." Marceline cut him off, all in a rush, "And I think it would be better for the baby to stay here. I think he deserves to grow up close to his family and not in the middle of a huge city. Is that a good enough reason?"

Eberhardt stared at her, speechless for a moment.

"They have excellent schools in New York." he tried after a long minute, although he already knew he'd lost the battle. No job offer was going to overcome the deep love of a mother for her unborn child.

"I'm sorry, Eberhardt. I'm beyond flattered that you came all the way from the States to offer me the job, but I have to respectfully decline. For my son's sake."

He nodded, accepting that her decision was final.

"Well, then the only thing I have to say further on the subject is to offer you my most heartfelt congratulations. You're simply glowing, my dear. And to wish you every single happiness this world has to offer. Do you have time for a proper catch up?"

They spent a few hours more laughing and talking together, until the staff began flipping the chairs at empty tables and shooting them significant glances.

"I think that's our cue to leave." Marceline told him as she caught yet another look from the waitress.

They paid their bill and exited the coffee shop together as the staff locked the doors after them, clearly glad to finally be rid of the pair.

"Look at how grown up I've gotten, I used to close up bars and the trendiest nightclubs. Now I'm closing up coffee houses and turning down glory and adventure for a cosy family life. I'd say I'm turning into my mother but I guess that's actually the opposite of true." Marceline shrugged as they walked up the darkening street together.

"You're turning into someone's mother, that's the important part. Now, you promise me you'll look after that baby, yes?" he asked as he stopped in front of his car.

"I couldn't do anything but. Eb, I am sorry. Truly, I am. But I've wanted this baby more than I've ever wanted to make musical history. I finally understand the appeal in settling down."

"Then I'm happy that you're happy. That's the best thing a person can be." he replied, and he really did mean it. Eberhardt didn't think he'd ever seen Marceline look so at peace with herself. If that meant the world would have to lose her unique talent then it was a tragedy for classical music but not for Marceline herself. So as her friend he could only be glad for her.

"Hey, do you have time to come up to the university tomorrow before you have to leave? He might not quite be concertmaster material just yet but I have a postgrad you might be interested in. He can handle a viola like nobody's business and I really think the more relaxed atmosphere in the US might suit him a bit better than here." Marceline asked suddenly. It had just occurred to her; perhaps a change of scenery would be just the thing for Bongo. And he had bags of talent, he could go far. Eberhardt would agree, she was certain.

"I have a few hours in the morning. If you're willing to vouch for this boy I'd be interested to hear what he can do. Why not? We could certainly use a talented viola player. He must be pretty spectacular if you think he's good." Eberhardt nodded. "I'll drop by around ten tomorrow morning, then. Good night, Marcy."

"Good night, Eb. Thanks for thinking of me."

She turned and continued up the street after a brief hug and he watched her go contemplatively. Marceline was growing into someone. It wasn't the person he'd expected her to become but he was proud he'd had a hand in shaping her anyway. She could still do amazing things. He'd look her up again in another few years, see if she'd changed her mind about the orchestra. Or maybe he'd come back to England, he did miss it and there were some pretty influential orchestras based there too.

It wasn't a long walk from the coffee shop back home, one of the reasons they'd bought that house in the first place was that it was easy for Marceline to walk to work and into town from. Bonnie didn't mind driving a little further but she knew how much Marceline detested the morning commute in traffic so they'd only viewed houses in a small area close to the university. It was fully dark by the time she was closing the front door; Marcy was glad she'd walked the long way around the park instead of risking the shortcut at night. She found Bonnie reading in the lounge, looking a lot less stressed than she had the day previously or even that morning.

"Hey love, how was your coffee date?" Bonnie asked, sliding a book mark into her novel and putting it to one side. Marceline was distantly glad to see she was reading fiction; a sure sign Bonnie was feeling better.

"It was kinda weird. Nice to see Eberhardt again though. He's been made a conductor, he's running his own orchestra now." Marceline replied as she shrugged out of her jacket and boots.

"Sounds nice. Sounds kinda like you're holding something back, but nice anyway." Bonnie replied after a thoughtful pause. Marcy exhaled heavily, she should have known better than to try to be evasive with her eagle-eyed girlfriend.

"Honestly? He offered me my dream job. But we'd have to move to New York for it and I told him I couldn't. Told him about the baby and about being settled here, that your career's taking off and I don't want our boy to grow up on the other side of the world from his family. But Eb's going to come hear Bongo play tomorrow, I think there's a good chance I can help him get a fresh start somewhere out of his father's shadow." Marcy replied as she dropped down next to her partner on the sofa.

There was something about the way Bonnie was staring at her but Marceline didn't much want to think about it. She was very aware that another opportunity like that wasn't going to fall into her lap again and she wondered if she would regret her decision in the future.

"He asked you to move to New York and play in his orchestra? Love, that's brilliant! You didn't even consider it?" Bonnie breathed after a moment of shock.

"Not for a second. I mean, any other time I'd have bitten his hand off for a chance like that. But now? No, the baby comes first. And besides, I love it here. I love England and I love our house and our neighbourhood, I love my job. I love you and I even love that you're married to your career and that you're not home so much. I don't think I'd swap all of this for anything, not even taking my dream job in one of the most exciting cities on earth. No, I didn't even consider it. Not when I'd have to give up all of this." Marceline replied. She'd just opened her mouth and let the words flow, she was pleased to discover that she honestly had no regrets about turning down Eberhardt's offer.

"I know you're scared about not being a good enough mother." Bonnie told her quietly after a second, wrapping her arms lovingly around Marcy's shoulders and pulling her into a hug, "But you don't need to be worried about that. You're already a wonderful mother. I couldn't imagine doing this with anyone better. Just, I wanted you to know that."

Marceline leaned in and kissed her girlfriend, unhurriedly and tenderly, without a doubt in her mind that she'd made the right decision. Of all the ways things could have worked out there wasn't anything she could imagine being better than kissing Bonnie on their sofa, knowing that soon their baby would be there too and they'd have a family of their own. That was the happy ending she'd always wanted, glory and adventure could wait.


	11. Week 11

**I** **have spent the last ten hours trying to write 800 words. I officially suck. Shout out to all the wonderful people who took the time to send me reviews, I love you all so much! You guys are the sweetest.**

 **Minor Character Ho! Erin is actually the name of the caterpillar that caterpillar Finn marries in Food Chain (that goddamn episode) but I needed a minor character who I could write in so I sorta stole her. Obviously she's not a love interest of his in this, she's just a kid. But caterpillars are baby butterflies so I figured she'd actually make a believable child, right? Well technically she is not an OC anyway, so yaay proud of myself for not just inserting a convenient OC.**

 **Content Warning: oh man so many mood swings, so many. Terror, cancer kids, implied naughtiness, more mood swings, wanton acts of theft.**

* * *

It was the loud skittering noise of something hard being pushed by enthusiastic paws across the polished floor of the hall that woke Marceline on Friday morning. When she sleepily stumbled out of the bedroom to see what the cats were playing with she swore under her breath and hurried to where Cinnamon was happily batting around the yellow jasper she was still carrying around. She offered a quick prayer of deep gratitude that Bonnie was a heavy sleeper.

"Give that back, stupid kitty." she hissed at him. Cinnamon looked up at her with big sad eyes when she took it away. "You've got about a million cat toys downstairs, go play with them."

An insistent _beep! beep!_ in the bedroom announced it was now seven and Bonnie's ridiculously loud alarm clock was definitely going to wake her up and Marcy had no good reason to be standing around in the hall holding a healing crystal she wasn't supposed to have. She hurried into the bathroom instead and shoved it behind Bonnie's favourite pink orchid on the windowsill; she'd move it later when there was less chance of being caught with it.

"Marcy? Are you ok?" Bonnie's sleepy voice called through from the bedroom.

"Yeah, just be a minute." Marceline called back.

Crisis averted, she flushed the toilet just for the look of the thing and wandered back through to the bedroom. It wasn't the most relaxing start to her day and Marcy was feeling increasingly vulnerable to anxiety just recently, probably another side effect of the hormones.

"Is your morning sickness still bothering you?" Bonnie frowned at her from where she was sitting up stretching.

"No, just Cinnamon woke me and I thought I might as well use the bathroom before I have to wrestle you for it." Marcy lied nervously.

She still felt so guilty about the crystals but she was absolutely determined to avoid the argument that having Bonnie find out about them would cause. And they made her feel better, who could have said how badly her severe morning sickness would have affected her without them? She'd read horror stories online about women whose morning sickness had made them so dehydrated that they'd ended up losing their babies. It was chilling to think that without the effects of the yellow jasper and the moonstone that could have happened to them. Might still happen to them because she was still in the dangerous first trimester and there wasn't much she could do to stop it happening. Without warning she was overcome with an uncharacteristic wave of panic and fear.

"Oof, what are you doing? Ok, we're hugging now. What's up?" Bonnie asked in confusion when her arms were abruptly filled with her distressed girlfriend.

"Dunno, I feel really weird. Probably a bad dream or something. Just, hold me?" Marcy muttered from where her face was hidden against Bonnie's shoulder.

"Do you wanna talk about it, sweetie?" Bonnie asked gently while she ran a hand soothing across Marcy's neck and shoulders. Her girlfriend took a moment to get her rapid breathing under control before replying.

"What if something happens to the baby? What if I miscarry, or he's born really badly ill? What do we do if it all goes wrong? Or I can't cope? What if I just walk out on you both like my Mum did? I'm so scared I'll just not be able to do this. Or I might get ill, what if I die like my Mum and you have to carry on without me?"

"You're not dying." Bonnie replied firmly. "Not even a little. And you're gonna be a fantastic mother, you'll always be there for our kids. I know you, love. There's no way you could be anything else. If it gets to be more than you can deal with then tell me, or your doctor, or someone who can help. You never have to do this alone."

"I'm scared." Marcy whispered shamefully.

"I know. I'm scared too. But it's a good kinda scared, right? Like, we can do this together. Yeah?"

Marceline didn't reply, just hugged her girlfriend harder and tried not to let her shoulders shake with giveaway tears. Bonnie knew she was crying and she didn't make a fuss, just held her closer and stroked her skin comfortingly.

"I'm sorry." Marcy murmured quietly.

"You don't need to be sorry, love. It's ok."

But she just shook her head, unable to voice that what she was sorry for was the crystals and the irrational mush that her brain seemed to be turning into these days. That she didn't really know how to express the constant nebulous feelings of worry that wreathed her thoughts more or less constantly, worse and worse as the time for their dating scan drew closer. Next week they'd find out if everything was normal with the baby, if he was healthy and growing as he should be. It was exactly seven days away and Marceline definitely didn't feel equal to talking much about how terrified she was of something going wrong. Seven days, Marcy told herself. She just had to keep it together for another seven days. She held her partner tighter and tried to breathe slow and calmly.

...

"Dr Bonnie! Hey again!"

Bonnie cringed internally; there was only one person she'd met who called her that in such a cheerful, high pitched voice. And she'd been hoping so hard to never see or hear from that person ever again. It wasn't that she had favourite patients, exactly. But working on the paediatric oncology ward meant that whenever one of her patients was discharged she always hoped they wouldn't be back, that they'd been cured as much as childhood cancer ever was. And that particular little girl had already spent so much time with them, it was cruel that she was back in for yet more treatment.

"Hello Erin, back to see us again?" Bonnie asked with a smile that was far more bittersweet than she'd intended it to be. The little girl smiled back, completely unaware that she was absolutely crushing her favourite doctor's heart yet again.

"Yep. Mum said my blood got sick again and I have to come live in the hospital for a while. I don't mind though because now we can hang out." she replied happily.

"Well that's a silver lining at least. Hey, I've got my lunch break now anyway, do you wanna sit with me and read some stories for a bit?"

No, Bonnie didn't have favourite patients because that would be unethical. But if she did then Erin would have been top of her list. She'd been diagnosed with leukaemia two weeks before her first birthday and had been in and out of the unit for as long as Bonnie had worked there, always cheerful and positive, smart and funny and smiling no matter how much pain she was in. Casting her eyes briefly over the girl's chart Bonnie felt her heart sink. The leukaemia was back and so was an invasive secondary tumour in her left kidney. Erin was scheduled to have the whole diseased organ removed on Monday afternoon and would be put on as aggressive a chemotherapy programme as her body could handle to try to kill any other secondary tumours too small to pick up on their scans. Secondary tumours meant either the cancer was spreading, which was awful news, or that they'd been caused by one of her earlier treatments. That was bad too but at least it would be more treatable. They wouldn't know for sure until the biopsy from the removed kidney came back from the labs. So instead of taking a walk outside and enjoying her lunch peacefully in the hospital garden Bonnie ended up in the chair next to Erin's bed, reading The Wind in the Willows to her between hasty bites of a sandwich. She'd be doing that every day for as long as Erin was back on her unit, Bonnie knew.

"You're a really good reader." Erin observed after they found a good place to stop for the day. "You can read all the big words really well."

"I've had a lot of practice at reading. You've gotta learn to read really big words if you want to be a doctor." Bonnie replied gently.

"You're the best doctor in the whole world." Erin nodded wisely. She paused thoughtfully for a second before she continued. "When did you know you wanted to be a doctor? Or do you have to get born a doctor?"

Bonnie laughed, she couldn't help it. If her mother had been there she'd definitely have confirmed that yes, Bonnie had been born a doctor.

"No sweetheart, I decided I wanted to be a doctor when I was twelve. My little brother broke his leg and we took him to the hospital and the doctors were just amazing. And I wanted to be amazing and help people like those doctors. So I studied really hard and went to medical school for a very long time and now I'm a doctor too. Doctors are just like anyone else, anybody can be a doctor if they want to be and they study really hard. There's nothing magical about it, it's just hard work and lots of school."

"I want to be a doctor like you. And I can help other kids with poorly blood." Erin decided. Bonnie smiled again and hoped it didn't come out as sad as it felt. Erin was six years old and already had a secondary tumour; there was a fifty-fifty chance she wouldn't make it to her sixteenth birthday.

"Well you've gotta study real hard but I'm sure a smart girl like you would make a brilliant doctor." Bonnie replied as calmly as possible around the lump that was trying to form in her throat. Erin beamed up at her and lifted her arms up for a hug. It wasn't really hospital policy but Bonnie leaned in and let the little girl wrap her arms around her neck briefly; anything if it made her favourite patient feel a little better.

"I gotta go now, Erin. But I'm gonna look at all your medicine and I'll come see you before your operation on Monday, ok?" she whispered as the little girl let her go.

"Ok. Bye Dr Bonnie, thanks for reading with me."

Bonnie left the ward and went straight to her office, closed the door and sank down into the chair behind her desk. She didn't cry, just, but instead stared at the collection of photos hanging on the wall above her bookshelf. One of the biggest was of Marcy in her favourite red ball gown accepting a bouquet on stage in Vienna; Bonnie had flown out just to see her perform on her first foreign tour when she'd been with the Philharmonic Orchestra. There was one of Bonnie and Neddy when they were kids, her grinning happily at the camera and Ned staring intensely from behind her shoulder. She was the same age as Erin in that picture, still completely innocent and carefree. They even looked similar; the little girl was the same shade of redhead as she was. The picture hung next to a Christmas photo with all their friends from a couple of years earlier. She was holding baby Junior on her knee in that one and Finn was wearing the ridiculous elf costume Jake had bought him. And there was a small frame in the corner holding an old photograph of her mother at around the same age that Bonnie was now. They looked very alike too. Both were tall, skinny and freckled with pale red hair and blue eyes. If it wasn't for the obvious age of the photograph they could have been the same person. Her mother's hair was threaded liberally with silver these days and Bonnie hadn't seen her in too long; her parents had moved back to Munich once she and Ned were both in university. Bonnie didn't get a lot of holidays and she usually spent them going somewhere exciting with Marcy, it'd been longer than was really acceptable since she'd visited. She checked her watch. She'd need to be in a departmental planning meeting in half an hour but there was still a bit of time. Bonnie lifted the receiver on the desk phone and dialed the number from memory, holding her breath unconsciously until she heard the line pick up at the other end.

"Hallo?"

"Hallo, Mama. Wie geht es dir?"

...

When Bonnie sighed for the third time in a row and pushed the same slice of carrot she'd been staring at for ten solid minutes back across her plate Marcy knew for certain something was up. She worried about her girlfriend, she couldn't help it. Bonnie was so much more sensitive than she let on and her job was such high pressure. It was worse than ever since she was made a consultant and then almost immediately afterwards a department head. And with the baby coming she had even more to worry about.

"Is everything ok, babe?"

"Mm, just had a long day. One of my patients is back and I really didn't wanna see her again. She's only six and this is her third admission with leukaemia. They're cutting one of her kidneys out on Monday too, she has a secondary tumour. I volunteered to assist. I want to be there in case something happens."

Marcy put her fork down with a sigh; she'd just lost her appetite. Bonnie winced apologetically because she knew how much it upset her girlfriend to hear the details of what she did every day. She was still upset about Erin coming back into the hospital, she hadn't meant to make Marceline think about cancer. That was always guaranteed to upset her.

"I dunno how you can stand it." Marcy murmured quietly.

"I just don't trust anyone else with their care. Those kids are so brave and so ill, I know I'm not gonna fuck up their treatment but I can't rely on anyone else. Lydia keeps telling me I delegate about as well as fish rides a bike but I just, I know I can help. If the department was left to some asshole like King the kids are the ones who'd suffer and that just isn't fair."

"So you'll suffer in their place? That'll be a real comfort to explain to the baby when we're burying you in ten years' time from a stress induced heart attack. Sorry your Mama's dead, kid, but she worked eighty hours a week making sure other people's children didn't have to receive perfectly adequate medical care from someone who was just as qualified as every other doctor in the hospital but that she personally disliked."

Bonnie tried not to rise to it, she really did. After all Marceline was exhausted and moody and full of hormones, she wasn't terribly good at tact or patience at the best of times and she had life very easy as a lecturer and musician; nobody lived or died depending on her decisions. Bonnie resolved to just ignore it and try to continue as calmly as possible.

"I understand that you don't see the point in me working such long hours but my job isn't just a job for me, it's a vocation. And you knew that from the very first time we met and you knew what kind of hours I'd be working. It's not like you've never been away touring for months at a time-"

"You always knew where I was and what I was doing! You didn't have to worry about me having some massive emotional breakdown from spending my days watching cancer kids die slowly! You've been working more and more since I got pregnant, you think I haven't noticed? I know you're avoiding me. Why can't you just be honest and tell me how disgusting you think I am?"

"What the hell?" Bonnie murmured in shock as her girlfriend finished with a choked sob and pushed away from the dining table, fleeing up the stairs to their bedroom in tears and slamming the door behind herself. So yeah, the mood swings were getting a lot worse then. Jake had quietly warned her that in his considerable experience the end of the first trimester was the worst time for sudden violent mood swings and she already knew how touchy Marceline could be at the best of times. Bonnie followed her at a more sedate pace, still shocked and confused.

"Marcy? Can I come in?" she called through the closed bedroom door. Marceline didn't reply, Bonnie could hear her muffled crying though. She opened the door and came to sit on the bed next to where Marcy was curled into a quivering ball of angst under their duvet. Bonnie reached out and hugged the middle of the blanket ball.

"Will you talk to me?" Bonnie asked her when Marceline finally consented to let the duvet slip back from over her head. She fixed Bonnie with a watery eyed frown.

"Are you having an affair with someone?" Marceline asked quietly. Bonnie stared at her, beyond shocked.

"Why would you ever think that? I've literally not even smiled at another woman since I met you. Don't you know you're the only person in the world I wanna be with?" she managed after half a minute of stunned silence.

"Just, you work so late more and more, you're distant all the time and you haven't come near me in weeks. What am I supposed to think?" Marceline muttered, looking into her eyes searchingly. "I feel like you're only halfway here most of the time."

"Oh, love." Bonnie sighed, hugging her harder. "Where do I even start? I work late because I'm trying to do the best for my patients and the department on our dangerously narrow budget. I'm trying to give you space because so often recently you don't seem to want me close when your skin is too sensitive or you feel down or you just want to focus on whatever you're doing. And really, you think I've not been near you in weeks? We were intimate like, two nights ago. It was wonderful and I spent the whole time thinking how sexy you are, how beautiful your bump is and how I'm so glad we're having a baby together. No, love, I'm not having an affair."

Marceline burst into fresh tears and allowed herself to be gently cradled and hugged.

"You're too wonderful." she managed to stutter out around her sobs. "And I'm such an idiot. I don't deserve you."

"I'm pretty rubbish really. I work too much and sometimes I know I take you for granted, even though I try not to. Neither of us is perfect. But that's ok, right? We can be imperfect together."

Marcy didn't reply for several long moments, just cried herself dry with her face hidden from view in Bonnie's lap. When she did speak her voice was raw and a little shaky.

"Don't think I've ever cried so much in my life as I have over the last three months. I hate crying. I hate being weak. And I can't help it, I tell my eyes to stay dry and they're all 'nah fuck you, you're gonna weep like a little girl who dropped her ice cream and there's nothing you can do to stop it'. If this the sorta emotional wreck I am now then how am I gonna cope when the baby comes?" she muttered dejectedly.

"You're gonna be fine. You 'll get past these hormone sads and I promise, you can scream at me all you need until you feel better. Ok?" Bonnie replied firmly. "We always knew it was gonna be hard. Remember when Lady broke down sobbing in the supermarket when she was having Kim because they didn't have the right brand of peanut butter? And she's an amazing parent. Everyone gets emotional, even I do. I called my Mum today and I was almost late to a meeting because I just really wanted to hear her voice. I'm not even pregnant, I have no excuse. But you have a get out of jail free card, you can be as moody as you want right now."

"I'd leave me, if I was you. It can't be any fun being around me right now." Marcy replied, still face down and a bit muffled.

"I'd rather be here getting cried on by you than doing anything else in the world with someone else. Love, look at me."

Marceline lifted her head and reluctantly met Bonnie's eyes. Perhaps she'd been expecting another long comforting speech but her girlfriend simply leaned forwards and kissed her tenderly, sliding her arms around Marcy's shoulders and reclining them both until they were stretched out together under the blankets.

"You're still wearing you work pants." Marcy observed a little breathlessly. "You have a no outdoor pants in bed rule. So you'll either have to take them off or get up."

"Are you trying to proposition me, Abadeer?" Bonnie asked with one eyebrow raised teasingly.

"Does that mean asking for make up sex?"

"Yeah that's what the word 'proposition' means, sweetie."

"Oh right. Yeah, then I am definitely propositioning you."

"Ok, I'm totally cool with that."

The no outdoor pants in bed rule was a stroke of absolute genius, Bonnie reflected as she wiggled out of her clothes.

...

"Bon? Bonnie. Hey, nerd."

"...Mh?"

"You awake?"

"Uh, I am now."

"The baby's hungry."

"You mean you're hungry."

"Yeah. Can I borrow your car keys?"

"You have your own car. And you hate driving. And it's two in the morning on a Saturday."

"But your car is blocking my car on the drive and I was gonna go to the twenty four hour McDonalds drive thru and be disgusting."

Bonnie sighed and flicked the lamp on, sitting up in bed and squinting through the flare of sudden light at her girlfriend. Marcy smiled at her innocently.

"You can't eat junk food, it's horrible for you and the baby. You need real food." Bonnie frowned.

"But I want something gross and deep fried. The baby's craving bad food and he won't let me sleep."

"Fine. On the condition that this is a one off, that you cook and eat whatever healthy food I buy for the rest of the pregnancy and that you order from the children's menu. The smaller portions are actually about the right calorie intake for an adult." Bonnie finally agreed with a deep sigh.

"So I can get a happy meal? Cool." Marcy grinned.

"And I'm driving. You are not leaving junk food wrappers all over my brand new car."

"Deal. Can we go now? I already got you some clothes ready."

Bonnie didn't even know why she hadn't expected that, it was typical Marcy behaviour. But she couldn't be too upset about it; PMS cravings were bad enough so she could only imagine how terrible pregnancy cravings were. It was just a shame Marceline wasn't craving something healthy like kiwi anymore.

At least her brain was awake enough by the time they were pulling off the drive ten minutes later to reach out instinctively and grab Marcy's hand before it could connect with the radio controls.

"Driver picks the music." Bonnie reminded her partner wearily.

"Bon, come on. Your taste in music is lame." Marceline replied with a definite whine in her voice.

"Well next time take your own car and you can listen to whatever you want."

It was actually a fairly relaxing drive after that. The moon was out and the sky was pretty clear, Marcy was sulking quietly and as they were coming up to the retail park where the nearest twenty four hours McDonalds was Bonnie found herself singing along tunelessly to the radio.

"Can you please just not try to rap to Macklemore? It makes the baby cringe." Marcy winced, turning the music down in case the McDonalds staff judged them for their tragic lack of cool.

"Embarrassing their kids is what mothers do, I'm just practicing." Bonnie shrugged. "Besides I'm embarrassing you too and that's an added bonus. You got me out of bed at two in the morning to buy you junk food, this is the price you pay for it."

"You are cruel and unusual. Can I get a side of cheese bites too?"

"No."

"Lame."

Despite Bonnie's protests Marceline refused to get out of the car and eat in the restaurant so they sat in the car park with the windows down in a futile attempt not to have the whole car smell like fries.

"Hey look, I got Velma." Marcy said around a mouthful of chicken nugget. She pulled the little plastic figurine out of her Happy Meal box and held it up proudly. "Guess they're rerunning the classic Scooby Doo toys. I always liked Velma best when I was a kid. Always had a thing for hot nerds."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment? It feels like you're trying to compliment me but you also just can't resist calling me a nerd." Bonnie replied. "Hey, what is that?"

She pointed out of the window with a frown and Marcy turned to look, neglecting to protect her fries for a crucial second.

"What? What am I looking at? I don't see anything, it's just an empty car park. Hey! You sneaky bitch!" Marcy gasped when she looked back around and saw her girlfriend grinning at her with a fry in her mouth.

"Your father might have mentioned a couple of times that Fries Thief was your favourite game to play at dinner time with him when you were small, I thought it'd be fun to give it a try." Bonnie replied happily. "It is fun! I like this game very much."

"Traitor! Bad enough that you and the baby gang up on me but if you're gonna start getting tips from Daddy too I don't stand a chance." Marcy sulked.

"You know I'm just kidding. Are you nearly done? I'm getting sleepy sitting here."

"Nearly finished my fries. I'll just leave the empties in here and we can throw them away later."

"No. Get your butt out of the car and throw away the box now, there's a bin right there."

"Where? Where am I looking? I don't see a bin. Oh my God, Bon, stop stealing my fries!"

Although the car smelled like junk food for days afterwards Bonnie couldn't bring herself to regret their midnight drive to McDonalds, especially not when it cheered Marcy up after her emotional outburst earlier in the evening. She even let her choose the radio station on the way home.


	12. Week 12

**Week twelve! I don't know how things are in your country, but in the UK twelve weeks is the usual time for your first scan. So, this is a big and important plot chapter. I've rewritten this numerous times, trying to get it just perfect. I hope you like it. This chapter is a bit longer than usual because I wanted to cover as much ground as possible, there was a lot I wanted to include. There is a minor OC, because I got sick of the usual 'Bonnie doesn't have a father' trope. If we're in an AU universe then yeah she totally can have a father. And I can totally see him being one of those older ex military guys. So please forgive me for inventing a father for her, I just thought it suited her better in this universe to have both parents around. You might just recognise the sonographer and receptionist too, more minor character inserts.**

 **Content Warning: scans, shocks, tears.**

* * *

Until recently mornings had meant the alarm clock, a relaxed breakfast, a quick snuggle with her girlfriend before work and a ten minute yoga and meditation session because no matter what else was going on in her life Bonnie still believed that it was important to start the day properly centred. For the last couple of months mornings usually started with the mingling noises of retching and cursing from the bathroom. She'd have gone through and tried to be some help but she'd learned very quickly that Marceline didn't want her to make a fuss or even really say anything at all about the morning sickness unless she mentioned it first. Bonnie would have liked to be more hands on with her support but her girlfriend seemed to prefer to handle it alone, especially now that she had better anti-nausea medication. Bonnie didn't say anything about it; just rolled over and took a moment to rest quietly in bed while she still could.

"Babe? You awake?" Marcy called weakly.

"Mm, trying."

"What time are we due at the hospital?"

Bonnie frowned. Was that today? Of course it was, she was such an idiot sometimes. She'd booked the appointment herself and taken the whole day off so she could be there for her girlfriend. Marceline had a lingering fear of hospitals that she didn't think Bonnie knew about, probably because of all the times she'd woken up in the back of an ambulance after going into anaphylactic shock as a kid.

"Bout ten thirty, I think." she replied after a moment of blank confusion.

"You think? You don't wanna check, so we don't miss our appointment? Where's the damn confirmation letter? Geez, fine! I'll get it."

Marcy slouched into the bedroom still in her PJs and pulled a drawer on the night stand open far harder than she needed to, muttering angrily to herself under her breath. Bonnie just let her have her bad morning mood, she figured she'd be grumpy too if she spent most of the time being tired and nauseated.

"Yeah, ten thirty. Great, we've got plenty of time at least. Are you getting up or not?"

"We have plenty of time, remember?" Bonnie murmured in reply. Her voice was still rough from sleep and she had to blink several times before her eyes would focus properly. "Come back to bed for a while, love. We've got time for a morning snuggle, don't we?"

Marcy just sighed in response and carefully slid back under the duvet, curling up like a cat and watching Bonnie warily.

"Doesn't it bother you when I'm a grouchbag like that?" she asked after a minute.

"Nah, I understand. You're just a slave to your crazy baby hormones."

Marceline didn't reply, she just narrowed her eyes and reached out to tickle Bonnie mercilessly until the other woman was squealing and begging for mercy.

"You're the biggest asshole in the world." she told Marcy breathlessly, between giggles.

"You were asking for it! Besides, I can't be held accountable for my actions right now. I have crazy baby hormones." the other woman replied with a grin. "That means I can do whatever the hell I want for the next six months or so. And you have to just go with it. And right now I want to make you flop around like a landed fish for being such a dinkus and reminding me that I'm full of hormones, as if I'd even forget it."

Bonnie tried really hard to pretend she didn't want to be tickled and it wasn't even a bit funny but she ended up gasping for air around her unstoppable giggles anyway and yes flopping around in the manner of a landed fish, terribly undignified. Marcy finished her torture with a long kiss and a grin.

"You brushed your teeth, right?" Bonnie asked sceptically.

"I was just sick. Yeah, I brushed my teeth, you really think I'd kiss you with my gross vomit breath?" Marceline rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "You're such a butt."

They dressed slowly, good moods mostly restored. Marcy's skin was more sensitive than ever and she had to swap out her habitual abused jeans in favour of something less rough. Her bump wasn't big enough for the maternity jeans yet so in the end Bonnie loaned her a pair of yoga pants. It was a gorgeous autumn morning and the hospital really wasn't that far away so they left the car on the driveway and walked instead, taking the shortcut through the park and admiring the brilliant red and golden leaves.

"You know what's gonna be awesome?" Marcy asked as they walked arm in arm.

"Hmm?"

"Taking Baby Abadeer down here next year and playing in the leaves together."

"Who? You must mean Baby Sugar. My surname is way easier to spell and if you're the one who's pregnant then I must be the Daddy, therefore he gets my surname. Baby Sugar." Bonnie replied, grinning. Marcy stuck her tongue out in response.

"Baby Sugar-Abadeer?" Marceline asked hopefully. Bonnie made a face.

"Maybe. But it's still hard to spell. Perhaps. We'll have to see what he looks like when he's born." she replied thoughtfully.

"Bon, he'll be a newborn. He's gonna look like a chubby purple potato with a scrunched up face. If we name him after how he looks at birth then he's gonna end up being called Potato Sugar-Abadeer, the kid with two Mums. That's a kid who'll need home schooling for sure, can you imagine the crap he'd take having to go to a regular school?"

They laughed together and Marceline leaned in for a quick and entirely unexpected kiss. She was usually pretty shy of public displays of affection but Bonnie wasn't about to complain.

They reached the hospital in good time and were hailed at the front desk by Manfried, the cheerful receptionist.

"Morning, Dr Sugar! You're in late today." he observed.

"I'm technically off duty, Manny. Bringing my lady for her twelve week scan." Bonnie replied happily, indicating Marceline's slightly rounded midriff proudly.

"Woah, really? Congratulations!" he beamed at them. "Are you having a boy or a girl?"

"Still waiting for the scan, Manny." Bonnie reminded him gently. Manfried just grinned and pointed along the corridor.

"Ultrasound is that way, just go straight down and turn left."

Bonnie nodded and smiled to him, he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer and clearly he'd forgotten that she'd worked there for years.

"He's useful." Marcy muttered under her breath as they walked.

"He's a sweetheart really, he's just not very bright." Bonnie replied. "Manny's been here longer than anyone can remember. He might not win any awards for being quick on the uptake but nobody's better at matching a patient to their records." Then they were standing outside the ultrasound department and Marceline was squeezing her hand tightly, nerves returning with a vengeance.

The sonographer was new, not someone Bonnie knew very well although she'd met him a couple of times. He waved them in with a cheery smile and looked around, a little bemused.

"Are you assisting today, Dr Sugar? We've had no papers from oncology, I didn't know I was expecting you." he said, looking between them like a lost puppy.

"I'm actually the patient's partner, James." she told him soothingly. "Not here to advise or observe at all, I'm just another expectant parent."

He nodded, still looking confused, glancing at both their faces like he'd only just noticed they were two women and then down at their entwined hands.

"Right, well, hop on the bed and we'll take a peek at-" he glanced at the paperwork- "Aberdeen Junior."

"Abadeer." Marceline corrected him with an eye roll as she climbed onto the clinical bed. "Or possibly Sugar, we haven't really agreed on that yet."

She rolled up her top and slipped the waistband of the yoga pants down a bit further, wincing when the cold gel was squeezed onto her stomach.

"It's a bit cold." James warned her way too late, already running the transducer across her skin to spread the contact gel evenly. Immediately a grainy black and white image appeared on the screen next to the bed and Bonnie gripped Marcy's hand tighter.

"Can't quite find... hold on..." James muttered, running the transducer around in circles and frowning.

"That's her kidney, James." Bonnie murmured after a minute. "You're focussed a little too far back."

He flushed and nodded, biting his lip and frowning at the screen. Then he moved the transducer again and fiddled with a knob on the controls and suddenly they were looking at a very close up scan of an actual baby, complete with limbs and a heartbeat and everything. Marceline stared at the screen, wide eyes already beginning to brim with tears. The sonographer immediately began examining the image and making notes on their file, nodding to himself in satisfaction after a few tense minutes.

"She looks... healthy." James said proudly, like he'd had anything to do with that. "No obvious dismorphisms, Nuchal transparency is about perfect, placental development looks fine."

"She?" Bonnie asked him, thought she didn't manage to tear her eyes from the screen.

"Yep. I wouldn't normally hazard a guess at twelve weeks, it could really go either way. But I'm fairly confident; you know it's all about the angle of the dangle and that is a very female looking foetus. If you come back for your twenty week scan and it's a boy I'll paint your nursery blue myself." James replied with a self-conscious smile.

"We're gonna have a daughter." Bonnie whispered to Marceline, who hadn't said anything and was quietly crying, staring at the screen.

"Yeah." she replied weakly. "A daughter."

"And everything looks fine." Bonnie continued. "Her Nuchal fluid looks perfect, she's got a good strong heartbeat, placental development is healthy, I can't see any obvious clubbing of the limbs, her occiput is a perfect depth for this stage of development and amniotic fluid is fine."

"Would you please," Marcy replied after a moment, "stop doctoring, for one minute, and just enjoy how bloody magical this is?"

James grinned to himself and kept his eyes firmly on the screen; with a flush Bonnie realised that by the end of the day every single person at the hospital would know that the serious, poker faced Dr Sugar had been thoroughly put down by her girlfriend. She didn't even care; Marceline was right. Everything looked completely normal with their little girl and it was magical. Right up until the sonographer zoomed out a little to get a good look at the placenta and let out a small noise of surprise.

"James?" Bonnie prompted. He frowned and moved the transducer more, picking up a new flutter of movement a few inches left of the first that he must have missed the first time because of how closely he'd focussed the screen.

"What is it? What's wrong? Something else is moving over there, is that normal?" Marcy asked, staring between James and her partner's surprised faces in panic. Bonnie looked like she was about to faint and more than anything that was absolutely terrifying for Marceline because this was medical stuff and if Bonnie was shocked by it then it must be something to worry about. But James had just said that everything looked fine with the baby, so-

"It's a second heartbeat. Not as strong as the first, a bit smaller." he confirmed quietly after a tense second. Marceline stare up at him, confused and panicked.

"What does that mean? Is the baby ok? Is there something wrong with her?"

"Twins." Bonnie replied in a voice full of detached, professional calm. "It means we're having twins. But the second twin is a bit smaller than her sister. So we need to take a closer look to make sure she's healthy."

James nodded in confirmation. It wasn't a surprise that Bonnie knew what the next step would be, she'd been reading up on early embryo development for weeks just to be prepared. And Marcy was glad Bonnie was unable to stop doctoring then because they were having two babies instead of one and the second twin was smaller, might not be healthy. She couldn't remember ever being so scared in her whole life, not even the first time she'd had a severe allergic reaction and thought she was going to choke to death. The tears were flowing unchecked down her face as James hurried from the room to call the senior sonographer and arrange the equipment for a clearer scan.

"What's happening?" Marcy whispered in terror the second they were alone. Bonnie squeezed her hand reassuringly and brushed the tears off her cheeks.

"James is gonna arrange a more detailed scan to get a closer look at the second twin, we didn't see her at first because she's small and lying at an angle. But it's gonna be ok, love. Whatever happens, it's gonna be ok, I promise."

"Thank you for being here with me. Are you ok?"

Bonnie paused for a moment before answering, meeting her partner's worried eyes cautiously.

"I think so? Just, really shocked. Please forgive me if I seem a little distant. This wasn't what I'd expected, I hadn't even considered that twins might happen. I should have known, you were so sick so early on. But I thought it was just regular morning sickness, twins never even crossed my mind. I just need a little time to process it. And right now all I can think about is checking that the smaller twin is ok, that she's healthy. Once we know they're both fine and we go home I'll freak out and panic and need you to calm me down, but for now I'm just going to stay professional, is that alright?"

Marcy tugged her forwards by the hand she was still holding and wrapped Bonnie into as close a hug as she could manage without moving from the examination table.

"It's gonna be ok. Know how I know? Cause you just told me so and you're never wrong about medical stuff. I trust you absolutely and I know you wouldn't tell me it was gonna be alright if it wasn't. Right?" she murmured into her girlfriend's ear. Bonnie nodded a little.

"I wouldn't lie about this just to reassure you. Deliberately giving you false hope would be the cruellest thing I could ever do to you if I knew there wasn't any good reason for it. The second baby looked fine at a glance, just smaller. This is just a precaution because twins are a little higher risk. We're just being extra safe with the clearer scan, ok?"

"Kay. Thank you so much."

They hugged quietly for another minute before the door opened and James came back in with the second trolley of sonography equipment.

"Well it's just me for now because the senior is apparently not in this morning but I am qualified for this kind of scan. If anything doesn't look normal with the second twin then we'll have you right back in tomorrow for a second opinion but that's a worst case scenario for now. So, let's have a look at your second little miracle, hm?"

He plugged the transducer cable into the second screen and turned back to Marceline, all professionalism and concern. Another shot of cold gel on her stomach and the transducer was back, running across the left side this time. She held her breath for as long as possible while he stared at the screen, it seemed to take so much longer than with the first twin but eventually James nodded again.

"There. Little one looks perfectly fine, just like their sister. Just a bit smaller. Let me just get a print of them and we'll do a size comparison." James told them, relief obvious in his voice. Marcy let her breath out in one long sigh.

"So she's fine, too? Nothing's wrong with either of them?" she asked carefully.

"They. I wouldn't want to hazard a guess on the gender of the second twin, they're lying awkwardly facing backwards. If they don't shift from that position you're gonna be in all kinds of discomfort when little one starts kicking your kidneys and spine." James replied.

He made a few more notes on the file and scanned back across to the first twin too, to get a clearer photograph of her for size comparison. Bonnie was leaning forward in her seat, examining the screen as closely as possible. She nodded reassuringly when Marcy caught her eyes; James was right, the second twin did look perfectly healthy too from what she could tell.

"Well, twin number one is a good five and a half centimetres, exactly the size we expect. Twin two is smaller, four point eight centimetres. But that's still within the normal range and you'll be relieved to hear that for the moment you'll only need the routine multiple pregnancy scans rather than going onto the high risk complication pathway. So we'll schedule you in for another scan at twenty weeks and then you'll need to come back and have a progress check every four weeks until your babies make their grand entrance. Here's an information pack for the both of you and your specialist team of midwives will be in touch shortly so you can start getting to know them. If you need any support or you have any questions there's a multiple pregnancy support group here at the hospital every other Thursday afternoon. And do feel free to contact the maternity suite or your named midwife at any time. Anything else I can help you ladies with?" James finished helpfully, looking between them with a satisfied smile. He obviously took a lot of pride in his work, it made Marceline glad to see it.

"Are they identical?" she asked almost before he'd drawn breath.

"No, they don't share a placenta. That's good news though. Identical twins have a higher risk of complications than non-identical."

"How's her cervical length?" Bonnie asked with a frown. James looked down at his chart.

"Normal for the time being but it's one of the things we'll be monitoring. We'll measure again at twenty weeks but in the meanwhile if you notice anything, uh, different than usual, just give your midwife team a call." James replied with a steadily deepening blush on his cheeks. He handed Marcy some paper towels to clean the gel from her stomach and set about making a second copy of the scan photos for them to take home.

"Um, wanna tell me what that was all about?" she whispered to Bonnie as James bustled from the room, returning the scan equipment and still rather red in the face.

"Your cervical length is important, if it shortens significantly you're at risk of premature birth. But I don't think he realised until he'd said it that he basically asked me to try to measure it with my fingers when we have sex and call the midwife if it doesn't feel right." Bonnie replied with a slightly strained grin.

"Oh. That's all kinds of gross and weird. Please don't do that, babe." Marcy replied with a grimace, pulling the waistband of her yoga pants back up. Bonnie just laughed a little, relief evident on her face, and pulled her girlfriend into a tight hug.

"We're having two babies." she murmured against Marcy's shoulder. "Two. In one go. And they both look perfect. I'm struggling to get my head around it."

"I know. But we're gonna be ok, right?"

"Of course. We're a team, we can do this. I love you."

"Love you too. Like, so much it hurts." Marcy breathed in reply, hugging back as tightly as she could and wiping yet another stray tear away from the corner of her eye with her free hand.

...

They were both quiet on the walk home, lost in thought. But Marceline groaned in annoyance when they turned the corner onto their street and her father's car was parked on the pavement in front of their house. More than anything she wanted to curl up on the sofa with Bonnie and talk through all the things they'd have to do and plan for the second baby, not have to entertain company. Hunson had his usual spectacularly bad timing, of course. But he was so excited about becoming a grandfather that really they should have anticipated that he'd drop by the moment they might reasonably be home from the scan. Marcy slid her phone out of her bag as they approached the house. She'd had it on silent in the hospital and hadn't looked at it since. Yeah, she had two missed calls and a voicemail from her father; probably letting her know he was on his way over.

"Pumpkin, what are you doing? You didn't walk all the way from the hospital did you? You need to rest!" Hunson announced with a frown the second she opened the door. She regretted harder than ever giving him a spare key.

"Yes, I walked. It's a nice morning and I wanted the air. I need to stay as active as I can for as long as I can, it's good for the babies." Marceline replied with an eye roll. Hunson stared; she realised her mistake too late.

"Babies? Not just baby? As in, more than one?" he asked quietly after a long moment. Marceline cursed herself; that was absolutely not how she'd wanted to tell him.

"We should sit down, Daddy. I've got some scan photos to show you." she replied instead. Bonnie squeezed her hand before moving off to the kitchen, presumably to make some tea and allow father and daughter a few minutes alone to talk. Hunson backed into the lounge and sank into the sofa, still staring at Marceline like she'd just announced she was pregnant with a three headed demon child. She took a seat next to him and wordlessly handed him the scan photo, the one showing both babies.

"Twins?" he breathed after a long moment of shock, staring at the photo like he'd never seen a baby before.

"Yeah. I had no idea until about an hour ago. The sonographer was pretty sure the one here on the right is a girl, we don't know about the other one yet. Non-identical twins." Marcy confirmed, feeling her eyes well up just a little again. She was still processing it, still trying to wrap her head around the idea.

"They do say," her father continued, still with his eyes glued to the photograph, "that twins run in families. Your grandmother was a twin, on your mother's side. You didn't know?"

She shook her head; she didn't know much at all about her mother's side of the family. She had relatives in California and Punjab and one of her second cousins had been a minor Bollywood actor for a while. Other than that she could count on one hand the things she knew about her Indian family.

"A granddaughter. And another grandchild too. This is the best news I've received in years! Oh Pumpkin, I am so proud of you." Hunson continued, sliding his arm around her shoulder and pulling her into a hug. For once it wasn't awkward; Marceline hugged him back and stopped trying to fight the exhausted grin that spread across her face.

"I know, Daddy. I can't wait to meet them."

They were still hugging and exclaiming over the scan photos when Bonnie joined them with a tea tray and a plate of cupcakes. If her eyes were a touch redder than usual and mascara just a little smudged, like maybe she'd shed a couple of tears over their twins too in the privacy of the kitchen, Hunson didn't comment on it. He just smiled proudly at them both, so happy for them and their growing family.

...

"He's gone." Marcy breathed in relief as she finally closed the front door on her father's retreating back. "Babe? Can we do that freaking out thing now?"

"Yes please. If I have to hold it in much longer I might actually explode."

Bonnie was curled up on the sofa, knees drawn up to her chest and arms wrapped over her head in a ball of quiet anxiety. Marcy hadn't seen her that panicked over something since her final oncology competency exams years earlier. With an eerie sense of calm she slid onto the sofa next to her partner and pulled Bonnie into a hug.

"Starting the freak out before I'm ready is bad manners." Marcy murmured against Bonnie's hair. "Didn't they teach you freak out etiquette at medical school?"

"Twins." Bonnie replied shakily. "Double the stress, double the cost, more or less double the risk of birth complications. How are we going to cope?"

"We'll find a way." Marcy soothed. "I can go part time at work, and you know Daddy would be thrilled to help with babysitting, Simon and Betty too. And Finn, Jake and Lady, we've got a ton of friends who'd love to help. Jake owes us babysitting duty anyway and you just try stopping Finn, he'll be springing them from nursery to go on adventures with him."

"But I'm a total control freak. And I'd gotten myself mentally prepared to parent one child, see how it went and then if we thought we could cope maybe try for another. This has completely thrown me; I don't even have words for how deeply in shock I am. And I feel like such a bad parent for not being immediately thrilled about it, like I'm letting them down because all I can think about is how difficult this will make everything."

"Difficult how?" Marcy asked gently.

"Difficult to look after them as thoroughly as they deserve. Just, you've seen how Jake and Lady struggle with their twins and of course they love them but love on its own isn't enough. We need to have enough time for them, enough money for them. They deserve the same level of care and attention that they'd get if we'd had them separately." Bonnie replied, still not looking up to meet her girlfriend's eyes. Marceline took a moment to think about how she was going to reply, working it all out in her head.

"Sounds like you're worried about not being a good enough parent. And that sounds like the sorta thing that someone who wasn't a good parent would never be worried about. You told me right back at the start that if I wasn't a bit scared I was probably doing it wrong, remember? So I'm pretty sure you just need someone to tell you that you're gonna be fine, and you're gonna do it right. Because you're scared, and that's fine, you're supposed to be. You know what I think you should do now?"

"What?"

"Call your mother. Tell her everything, and ask for her opinion. I'm completely certain she'll be wonderful."

"But what if she's not? What if she doesn't approve?" Bonnie asked in a small voice, looking up a little from where she'd hidden her face.

"Then you're gonna roll up and let me hold you and kiss you and tell you how much I love you, and how much our babies love you too and how wonderful a mother you're gonna be. How wonderful you already are. But that's not gonna happen, your mother's gonna be so happy for us. You can still have the rolling up and love-bombing though if you want it."

"Yes, please."

"Right. Turn around, grab your mobile, call your mother and snuggle up. Look, even Peppermint's come to see what's wrong. You can't be sad when you've got a Peppermint, right?"

"Hey little guy." Bonnie told the big grey cat when he jumped onto the end of the sofa and mewled softly at her. "We had our first scan this morning. And we're having twins and I'm freaking out about it. Think you can spare a hug for your poor stressed Mama?"

Peppermint dutifully curled up on the top of her chest, head shoved under her chin and purring quietly like he'd been switched to vibrate. With a deep, steadying breath Bonnie dialled her mother's number. Somehow having Peppermint snuggled trustingly on her chest made her feel a little braver, a little more able to face the conversation she was about to have and the possibility that it wouldn't go as well as she wanted it to. It wasn't the voice she expected to hear on the other end of the line when the call connected.

"Sugar residence, Colonel Roger Sugar speaking. How may I direct your call?"

"Dad? Hey, it's Bonnie. Is Mama around?"

"Hello honey, no she went for coffee and cake with her library friends. Is something wrong? You sound a bit worried."

"I just wanted to tell her something. We've had some big news today and I kinda wanted you both together to tell you and I don't really know how to phrase it."

"Take a breath, Bonnie. You're almost hyperventilating. Is someone sick?"

"No, not really sick exactly. Just, don't know how to say it and I don't want to shock you-"

"Bonnibel, honey, you're panicking. Take a deep breath and just think about what you're trying to say before you say it. Now then, calmly tell me what's wrong."

"Um, Marcy's twelve weeks pregnant and we just found out we're having twins."

There was a quiet pause on the line and in her head Bonnie could almost see her father nodding to himself, thinking it over.

"Was it planned?" he finally asked.

"Yes, Dad. We've been planning it for a long time. I just, I didn't want to say anything until we knew it was happening. Didn't want to jinx it."

"And are you happy? Both of you?"

"Dad, I'm honestly terrified. Happy, but freaking out. I hadn't expected twins. Marcy's... ok, I think. Probably happier about it right now than I am."

"Then I'm happy for you, honey. Oh, my baby's having babies! I know it must have been a shock but you'll do just fine, you always do. I'll get your mother to call you as soon as she comes home. I'm going to be someone's grandfather! I'm so happy for you!"

Some of the tension finally began to dissolve from Bonnie's shoulders and Marceline felt her relax inch by inch into the hug. She wrapped her arms tighter around her girlfriend and rested her head on Bonnie's shoulder, letting out a quiet sigh that was half relief and half joy. Because yes she'd been shocked and scared at first but now that she knew both babies were healthy and they'd be ok, now that she'd taken the time to think it through and help calm Bonnie too the fear had all just evaporated. All that was left was just a simple deep joy, bright and serene. It felt right, perfect in its way. They'd do better than just cope. This time she wasn't even a little ashamed of the quiet tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks as she slipped her phone out of her pocket and sent a quick message to Jake, Lady and Finn while her girlfriend cried quietly down the phone to her overjoyed father.

 _Just back from our scan. We've been blessed with twins x_


	13. Week 13

**Guys, I'm so sorry! I promised you this last night but then work was unexpectedly busy and I didn't get it all finished before my shift ended. So please accept my deepest apologies.**

 **Week thirteen, we've officially made it to the second trimester! Thank you guys for sticking with the story so far, it's absolutely lovely to read your feedback and a real pleasure to write simply for its own sake. There's another minor character in this chapter and he's the reason I took a while getting it posted, he was a tricky one to decide how to write. But I'm pretty satisfied with how he turned out, I hope you agree.**

 **Content Warning: alcohol, bad language, partying, ladysexing (not graphic, wasn't sure that'd be appropriate). Some basic knowledge of the Batman universe would be helpful but not essential for this chapter.**

* * *

"This is Halloween! This is Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!"

"Shut up, Finn!"

"I'm not Finn. I'm Batman."

"You keep doing that with your voice and you're gonna end up needing throat surgery, you know that, right bro?"

"Hallyweem, Daddy!"

"It's pronounced 'hall- _o-_ ween', sweetie."

"HALLYWEEM! HALLYWEEM!"

In the end the choice of costumes was pretty much taken out of their hands because Junior had picked a theme for the Halloween party that year and by what he swore was a total coincidence she'd chosen her uncle's absolute favourite comic book series. Finn had instantly called dibs on being the actual Dark Knight for the evening, leaving Jake to be a very sulky Joker. When they were getting changed at Jake's place Finn helpfully pointed out that the character's name was Batman not Fatman and Jake had retorted that nobody would trust a skinny chef and the whole thing had to be resolved with a brotherly wrestling match. Finally Lady separated them and sent them to help the kids get ready. They were delayed setting off and hurried along the street towards one very cold looking Wonder Woman and a Batwoman who'd already taken her mask off, the better to stare up the road anxiously in case Joker Jake forgot the way to his own restaurant.

"Yo, looking good! Ms Kane, I think you'll find you're very paranoid of anyone finding out your secret identity so you'll need to put your Batmask back on." Jake enthused as he opened the restaurant doors and slung a tiny Batgirl Junior down from where she'd been riding along on his shoulders.

"Just let us in, Jake. I'm freezing my t- um, my private parts off out here." Marcy sighed at him, catching herself just before she taught her goddaughters any unfortunate words.

"Understandable. Princess Diana of Themyscira was an Amazon and it's usually a lot warmer there than in England so it makes sense that you'd be feeling the cold." Jake told her with a grin made even wider by his creepy make up.

"Where's Lady?" Bonnie asked, regretfully sliding her mask back into position over her face.

"CatLady ? She's fixing a last minute juice stain on Kim's suit. He's the tiniest and cutest Riddler you've ever seen." Jake replied proudly. "She'll be along in a bit with teeny tiny TV Penguin and Poison Violet. Open bar for the adults, all the soda the kids can drink!"

Junior had already ran past them all and shoved her way to the buffet table that Jake had spent the morning preparing. As if they needed any further proof that she was his daughter; Marcy couldn't keep back a nostalgic grin thinking about a certain night eight and a bit years earlier when Jake had immediately ditched her in favour of a free buffet too. She'd thanked him for it many times but it never hurt to stay grateful.

Finn let go of CharlieQuinn's hand and she rushed forward to hug her aunts, squealing excitedly.

"Aunty Marcy, Daddy said you're growing babies in your tummy! Are you gonna be someone's Mummy?"

"That's right, darling. We're both going to be the babies' Mummies. I'm going to be 'Mum' and your Aunty Bonnie is gonna be 'Mama'. Are you excited about being a big cousin?" Marcy asked her happily.

"Yep. But you'll still be my Aunty, right?" the little girl asked in sudden concern.

"Always, darling. I promised your parents when you were born that I'd be your Aunty forever. Even when you're all grown up, even if you decide you want to have babies of your own. I'll still be your Aunty no matter how big you get."

"I don't want to have babies, they're smelly." Charlie informed her with a wrinkled nose. "Violet pooped on the floor this morning and Junior got sick on my dollhouse one time. Babies are gross."

"When you were just a tiny baby we looked after you for the day and you had a really poorly tummy, you got poop in your Aunty Bonnie's hair." Marcy replied solemnly. "You laughed, you thought it was so funny."

"I did not!" Charlie gasped indignantly.

"You did, darling. But you were only a few months old, you won't remember it."

" _Ewww._ Babies are so _gross_!"

She ran off after her sister who'd already spilled a plastic cup of juice over the floor. Next second Batman had tackled Marcy around the shoulders and was either attempting to choke her or hug her, she wasn't immediately sure which.

"Finn, air!" Marcy gasped, smacking his arms urgently.

"Sorry! Just, oh man, I can't believe it! _Twins! Twins twins!_ I'm just, I'm so happy for you!" he replied with a huge grin under his mask. Finn had been working all week, he hadn't had time to see them in person since their shock at the scan.

"Yeah, I know. I think Bonnie's still processing it." Marcy told him quietly, nodding to her partner across the room where she was helping mop up Junior's second spilled drink. "She's been quiet. Happy, I think. But really quiet. I know she's scared. And she's usually the one who calms me down, I can count on one hand the number of times she's properly panicked over something, I'm scared that it's suddenly all got too real for her."

"She's a trooper, she'll be fine. Just give her time." Finn replied with an unusually serious slant to what she could see of his features. "You know Bon Bon, she likes to be in control. Stop winking at me, you're disgusting. I just mean, pregnancy isn't predictable anyway and even though she's a doctor she has no idea what's gonna happen and now there's double the amount of stuff she can't control. It makes sense that she'd be freaking out about it. But she's got like, another six months or so to get used to the idea, yeah? So if she's a bit wobbly right now that's ok, better than her waiting until the babies are here then freaking out."

"How'd you get so mature, man? I remember when we were students you and Jake had a competition to see how many Cheerios you could fit in your nose. And now look at you, giving out family advice like some wise old- oh my God, you've got a girlfriend, don't you?" Marcy gasped, suddenly remembering when she'd seen Finn all deep and philosophical before. He tried to avoid her eyes but it was no use, he'd been busted.

"Maybe." he admitted, blushing down at the floor and shuffling in a very unBatmanly way. "But it's just new, I wanted to see where it went before I said anything. I really like this girl."

"We have to meet her! We've gotta introduce her to the squad, you know it won't be serious until we've pronounced judgement!" Marcy grinned back at him. "Come on, I want all the juicy details. What's she like in bed? Is she a screamer? Dominant? Does she have any naughty fetishes? Ooh is she, y'know, sorta kinky?"

"You. Are. Disgusting."

"You asked me exactly the same questions when I started seeing Bonnie. And you were horrified by the answers."

"Because they were all yes!"

"Don't ask questions if you can't handle finding out, little dude. Come on then, what's she like?"

FInn mumbled and looked away.

"Excuse me? Didn't quite catch that." Marcy smiled at him. He sighed.

"We've not slept together yet. She's sorta, like, special. I dunno, Marce. She's just awesome. I don't wanna screw it up. I mean, I do wanna screw _her_ , you know? Not even, like, screw. I wanna, I dunno, kiss her and make it nice and stuff? Be gentle and loving and junk. Does that make sense?" he muttered.

"Perfect sense. You're in _loooooove_! You wanna-"

"No, don't say it-"

"-make-"

"-please, Marcy!"

"-sweet sweet _love_ to her. Don't you?"

"Shut up!"

"Aww, Finn's embarrassed! Seriously, man. I'm happy for you. If she's awesome and she makes you happy then go for it. You bringing her to the pub next weekend?"

"Yeah, Jake threatened to tell her about the time I peed in Mum's underwear drawer for a dare when I was six if I didn't bring her along." Finn replied with a scowl. "He's an asshole."

"Language, Finn! There are children around! Yeah, he is sometimes though. From what I can tell it's a big brother thing. Heads up, your ex just walked in." Marcy added, standing on tiptoe and peering over Finn's shoulder at where Lydia had just sauntered in through the door along with a flood of parents and kids from Charlie and Kim's school and Junior's nursery.

"What's she supposed to be?" Finn asked quietly. Marcy cocked her head, trying to work it out while Lyds shrugged out of the long coat she'd had on over her costume.

"Slutty Sailor Moon? At least she tried. Man, I didn't think Sailor Moon could get sluttier. That's a bikini top. It's the first day of November tomorrow and she's wearing a _bikini_." Marcy breathed. "She must be wearing an entire roll of nipple tape on each breast. I find myself grudgingly impressed. You've gotta admire her confidence. And her rack. Sorry, man. Those are some pretty nice lumps, even if they come attached to Lyds."

"Oh hey, Finn!" Lydia shouted, waving at them and marching across the restaurant with her gravity defying chest bouncing along almost hypnotically.

"Uh oh, incoming! Tapping out. Good luck!" Marcy muttered as she beat a hasty retreat back to where Bonnie was helping Charlie get a plate of food. She'd have to put up with the enthusiastic woman sooner or later but she'd rather let Finn get a face full of inappropriate costume first, maybe Lyds would be a little gentler with hugging people once she realised she was smothering them with her enormous cleavage.

The party partied on all evening and well into the night. Eventually the last of the kids went home and Jake threw open the bar and gleefully turned up the music. By the time the last adult guests were stumbling away and Finn was locking up it was two in the morning and Marceline was supporting Bonnie down the street to where she'd parked their car. As they came to the crossing a beaten up old car pulled around the corner with a load of guys in cheap werewolf masks, whooping and yelling along to some loud rock music.

"HEY WONDER WOMAN! YOU WANNA HANDLE _MY_ SKYHIGH CRIME RATE? HUH? LEMME HELP YOU OUTTA THAT SHIRT! COME ON, GIVE US A QUICK LOOK! HEY I'M TALKING TO YOU, STUCK UP BITCH!"

"FUCK OFF AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND OR I'LL FUCKING-"

"Bonnie, leave it! He's drunk, you're drunk, we don't need to start a fight!"

"He insulted you!"

"He's a random moron hanging out of a car window yelling at me in the street! He's hardly gonna steal me away from you!"

"M'sorry, love. Just, I don't like guys hitting on you." Bonnie replied, just a little slurred. Marcy shook her head fondly; doctors and their all-or-nothing attitude to partying. Bonnie had always been protective and she took a very dim view of street harassment at her soberest of times. Just normally when it happened on a night out Marceline was hammered too so she didn't notice it so much. Luckily the car drove on with its cargo of drunk idiots and nothing came of it.

Jake had been poured into a taxi home around midnight; he'd stupidly challenged Bonnie to a drinking competition figuring that being literally the size of three of her taped together he'd win easily. He should have known better, Bonnie could drink anyone under the table. Finn wasn't too drunk but then Finn never was, he always liked to stay in control, said he saw too much of the effects of alcohol at work. Lady had taken the kids home around six and left her partner to handle the adult side of his famous Halloween extravaganza. No doubt she'd be joyfully letting their squealing offspring leap around on his pillows from about five in the morning onwards. Jake knew it was the price he paid for trying to still be a legendary party animal despite being a father of five, he accepted his fate stoically and a little nauseously every year. Lydia had left on the arm of some hunky single Dad, the father of one of Kim's school friends, and Finn had mysteriously vanished around ten, not reappearing until the very end of the night. Marcy figured he'd probably ditched them once Jake was too drunk to notice and gone to hang with his girlfriend. She couldn't blame him, Jake's Halloween party wasn't a good atmosphere for introductions. It would be unfortunate if Finn's new girlfriend got the impression that his friends were all rolling drunks. Or superheroes.

"Come on then, Batwoman. Let's get you home." Marcy sighed as she unlocked the car door and slid into the driver's seat. The agreement was that she'd be designated driver for the night but only if she was allowed to take Bonnie's sexy new sports car. Probably the redhead hadn't really thought through the implications of that deal at the time.

"Hey don't mess with the seat, I've got it how I like it!" Bonnie protested.

"I'm taller than you. I need to adjust it for safe driving. This is like, page one of How To Drive. I know you know this stuff." Marcy replied distractedly as she began making a show of messing with the mirrors too.

"But my car is my baby." Bonnie whined, pouting a little.

"Our actual babies are your babies. We need to get them home safely. Yeah?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Bonnie murmured, slumping down in her seat. "Marcy? Take it slow, yeah? I feel a bit sick."

"Wonder why." Marceline muttered as she started the engine.

They were on the central motorway when Bonnie spoke up next.

"Hey? I know I'm hammered. And kinda stupid, didn't really mean to get this drunk but you know Jake can be pretty persuasive and he kept topping up my glass. But, look, there's stuff I can't say right now when I'm sober and, like, I'm sorry. Stuff like how much I love you. I tell you all the time, right? Every day. But I just don't feel like 'love' is a strong enough word for it. Like, I more than just love you. And I love our babies too. I know I've been a bit weird, I'm just so scared to fuck it up. I've never fucked up anything really important before and I don't want them to be the first thing I can't handle. I'm not really very maternal like how you are and I'm scared I won't be able to bond with them. What if I can't love them like they deserve?"

"You're gonna be fine, babe. I looked it up online, turns out a lot of lesbian couples have the same problem when they get pregnant. The mother who isn't carrying can feel left out, or jealous, or worry she's not a 'real' mother in the same way. But you are their mother, every bit as much as I am. They're part of both of us. It's just gonna take longer for you to get to the same level of connection with them cause they're not literally growing inside you. But that's ok, we have the rest of our lives. It doesn't need to be an instant bond, it'll grow with time. Right?"

Marcy reached across and took her partner's hand, squeezing it comfortingly and glancing over with a smile.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm just worried." Bonnie mumbled.

"I know. You worry about everything. But I believe in you. And I more than just love you, too."

"Thank you, love. You're the best. I really mean it, I-"

"MOTHERFUCKER STUPID BASTARD COCKSUCKING SHITFACE WANKHOLE! IT'S A FUCKING MOTORWAY PUT YOUR FUCKING FOOT DOWN YOU HALF DEAD OLD BASTARD!"

And then Bonnie was sharply reminded of why she hated letting her girlfriend drive. Marcy had the worst road rage of anyone who'd ever so much as seen a car.

"Oh my God our babies are gonna be born shouting "put your foot down you motherfucker" at the midwives." Bonnie giggled, suddenly overcome with how hilarious it was. Marcy grinned at her sheepishly.

"Guess I'll have to tone down the language when we've got the little ones in the back. Speaking of, you're gonna have to swap this beast for a car with more than two seats." Marceline added thoughtfully.

"Nooooo my baby!" Bonnie said in mock horror.

"Might have to get a minivan. Two or three, maybe four kids if we want more later, maybe a couple of dogs, two mothers, kids' friends if we're going somewhere, holiday luggage, groceries for a family of six plus guests... Yep, we're gonna need a minivan." Marcy concluded with a crooked grin.

"You can swap your car."

"Yours is worth more."

"Exactly."

A minute later she pulled off the motorway into their area of town and not so long after that they were parking on their own drive.

"So Wonder Woman, you gonna keep the costume on and come up to bed? You can use your lasso of truth to reveal my secret identity." Bonnie purred, sliding one hand along Marcy's thigh and leaning across to kiss her throat.

"It's two thirty on Sunday morning already, we've got stuff to do tomorrow, you get really adventurous when you've been drinking and you're dressed like a super hot Batwoman and I've just realised that those last two are actually really good reasons to say yes and did you just unhook my bra?"

"Maybe?"

"Right, in the house and straight upstairs, I think we're gonna find out who comes out on top in an epic battle of Batwoman versus Wonder Woman."

It was almost four before they finally thought about sleep.

"Look at that, it's a draw." Marcy murmured against the soft skin of Bonnie's stomach, completely boneless and lacking any motivation to move possibly ever again.

"Whuh?"

"Batwoman versus Wonder Woman. It's a draw."

"Oh. What are we up to now? Three all?"

"Yeah. You wanna rematch some time?"

"Mm, once my legs stop shaking. Sleep now?"

"Yeah. Love you, babe."

"Love you, too. More than just love you."

...

Bonnie opened her eyes around lunchtime the next day with an absolutely world class hangover and discovered that her special mug was steaming quietly to itself on the nightstand. It read 'WORLD'S OKAYEST DOCTOR' in slightly faded pink letters; Marcy had gotten it for her when she'd passed her consultancy competency exam with ninety nine percent, she'd thought it was the most hilarious thing she'd ever seen. A careful sniff of the steam revealed it was full of fresh ginger root and honey.

"Said so yourself, nothing's better than ginger tea to settle an upset stomach." her girlfriend's voice informed her, just a touch smugly.

"Oh. Thanks." Bonnie replied thickly, sitting up extra carefully so the world didn't spin.

"How's the hangover"? Marcy asked with a grin.

"Horrible, thanks. How's the morning sickness?"

"Getting better. Still kinda annoying though. Do we still have to go out today?"

"Yes. I want to see my brother and tell him he's gonna be an uncle. You didn't really think a feeble hangover would defeat Batwoman, did you?"

"I'd hoped." Marcy murmured around her own teacup.

After pain killers, ginger tea, a shower and a lot of pretending to feel better than she actually was, Bonnie was ready to go. Marceline reluctantly accompanied her out of the house and slid into the passenger seat of her car.

"You donked all the mirrors." Bonnie frowned, readjusting everything and rolling her shoulders uncomfortably against the bottom of the headrest which was now at the wrong angle.

"Yeah well you could have called a taxi. You agreed, I got to drive the beast and you got to poison your brain cells with Jake's cocktails. Didn't you have a good night?" Marcy asked.

"I think? Not completely sure how we got home." Bonnie muttered, avoiding her girlfriend's gaze and busying herself with watching the road.

"So you don't remember our epic battle of lady heroes last night?" Marcy asked slyly.

"Um, I remember you almost crushed my head? Amazons have crazy leg strength, apparently."

"Didn't hear you complaining at the time." Marcy muttered, blushing.

"I didn't say I didn't like it. You were just very enthusiastic. It was the costume, wasn't it?"

"As much as I love it when you deconstruct and analyse our intimate time, could we maybe talk about something that won't make me think about you stretching out moaning in nothing but a Batmask when I'm trying to talk to your weird brother?"

Bonnie grinned, she was already feeling much better.

It was a long and uncomfortable drive to Ned's cabin, made worse by the lack of paved road for the last leg of the journey. He was what he optimistically referred to as a Forestry Custodian, he lived in his tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere and in return he looked after the surrounding forest and received a small income from the land owner and rarely had to see anyone else. Ned hadn't lived anywhere near civilization since he'd graduated with an Environmental Sciences degree years earlier. After almost two hours of driving they finally pulled up outside his door to a cacophony of excited barking from the kennels next to the cabin.

"Oh look, he's bred some more dogs." Marcy observed unenthusiastically. "That's like, twelve now? Is he forming his own pack?"

"Play nice. He's my baby brother, I love him." Bonnie murmured as she got out of the car and scanned the horizon for him.

There was no Ned in sight. Bonnie picked her way carefully across the churned up mud and animal filth of his yard and knocked on the cabin door, figuring he was probably home. Usually he took the dogs out into the woods with him if he was away from the cabin. After a couple of seconds Ned threw the door open, shirtless, filthy and covered in what looked suspiciously like compost up to his elbows.

"Bonnie! You should have said you were coming!" he shouted, wiping his hands on his legs and coming forwards to hug her.

"I called a few times but you were never home." his sister replied.

"Oh. Warum ist _sie_ hier?" Ned asked in an undertone when he caught sight of Marceline by the car.

"Neddy, come on. She's here because she's my partner and I love her and you two are practically family now. Please try to be welcoming, for my sake? And make an effort to use a language we all speak, it's polite. You know Marceline never learned German."

"Fine. I'll be nice to the weirdo."

"Ned."

"Sorry. But she is weird."

"You'd know weird, I guess. Come on, let us in. I've got some news for you."

He reluctantly backed into the cabin and motioned for them to follow, even making the effort to sweep his eyes briefly in Marceline's direction so that she knew she was included in the invitation. She wasn't any more eager to enter than he was to have her there but she followed him anyway, for Bonnie's sake. If her partner was willing to put up with her father once a week then the least she could do was agree to sit in Ned's disgusting cabin for a couple of hours every few months.

The cabin had small windows that were caked in filth and a low woodbeam roof that housed drying herbs and occasionally the carcass of a rabbit or game bird he'd managed to trap. Ned believed in living off the land, he was exactly the type of filthy tree-hugger Bonnie usually despised. But when she looked at him she still saw the adorable little brother that she'd played in the garden with and taught to read, she barely noticed that he was now a hulking dragon of a man with a beard like a wild red shrub and thick muscles covering his arms and chest. He was probably the sort of man straight girls wet their panties over, Marcy figured. There were plenty of guys in the city who carefully cultivated the same aesthetic as Ned, only cleaner and with more carefully landscaped facial hair and gym-toned bodies. But Ned was a genuine mountain man right out of the last century, he was built because he spent all his time in manual labour and bearded because he didn't like to waste precious energy boiling up enough hot water to shave every day. At least he was handy. Ned had built the cabin and almost everything in it, rebuilt and maintained his own off-road truck as well as managing miles of ancient forest single handed. If he'd ever decided to go looking for a partner he'd have been knee deep in whatever his choice of bedmate was, but so far as anyone knew he'd never dated.

"Sit down, don't mind the mutt." Ned told them as they came into the open plan lounge and kitchen area. There was an old border collie with a greying muzzle curled up by the open log fire, she lifted her head and whined at them but made no effort to stand or come to investigate their guests. "She ate something poisonous, been helping her purge for the last couple of days." he added.

"Poor thing. Want me to take a look at her?" Bonnie asked, crouching down and holding her hand out for the old dog to sniff.

"Reckon she's over the worst of it now. So what was such big news you had to drive all the way down from the shiny caves of steel and out into actual nature to tell me?"

"Sit down, Ned." Bonnie told him gently, backing across to one of the hand woven wicker chairs he made and sometimes sold at the side of the road for extra income.

"Now you've got me worried, sis. Is someone ill?" he asked with a frown, sitting opposite and looking between their faces apprehensively. Marcy could tell he was genuinely concerned, he even looked directly at her and made eye contact for a second before looking away again.

"No, it's nothing bad. I just, I wanted you to know." Bonnie continued, reaching out and unconsciously taking Marcy's hand for moral support. She was worried he'd react badly, Ned hadn't really taken to any of Bonnie's choices of girlfriend.

"What? You're moving away? Mama and Dad are moving back? Are you getting married finally?" he asked with a frown.

"No, none of those. Neddy, we're starting a family. We went to a private clinic and got a donation and in about six months you're gonna be an uncle. We're having twins, at least one girl." Bonnie told him, aiming for a happy and relaxed tone of voice but sounding slightly strained away.

"No! Really? That's brilliant news! I'm so happy for you!" he grinned, standing and hugging her again. "Oh Bon, you're gonna kill Mama and Dad with this, they'll be so happy they'll explode! But you're not showing at all, you're three months along with twins already?"

"I am. I'm the one who's pregnant." Marceline told him.

"Huh. Well, congratulations. I thought you looked a bit thick around the middle." Ned nodded thoughtfully. It was unnerving to see the exact same expression Bonnie wore when she'd worked out a knotty problem on the face of a huge hairy shirtless man still with streaks of dirt on his arms.

Marcy bit back the retort that wanted to bubble up through her lips and simply nodded, yeah she was really beginning to show, she'd only just fit her costume the night before. Ned was only saying what he saw, she could hardly blame him for lacking social skills when he lived in such extreme isolation. Bonnie squeezed her hand in silent thanks.

In the end it wasn't really such a bad visit. Ned showed them his new composting toilet and the willow grove he'd planted, Bonnie filled him in on the news from the outside world since he lived mostly free from any kind of media and Marcy tried not to notice the thick carpet of dog hair and assorted filth covering the rugs and floors. She declined the offer of tea or anything to eat, not trusting that he actually owned soap much less applied it to his mugs and plates in a decent enough amount to make them hygienic. They left as the sun was setting behind grey overcast clouds; Ned waved them off with the accompanying chorus of barking and yelping dogs behind him.

"We're stopping somewhere to eat on the way home." Marcy announced the second the car engine was running.

"Deal. Anywhere you want, as a thank you for being really great today." Bonnie replied happily. Marcy was glad she'd enjoyed spending time with her brother, at least. Even if he was a weirdo.


	14. Week 14

**As ever you guys are thoroughly wonderful with your words of support. Reviews absolutely make my day, I'm so happy everyone seems to be enjoying the story so far. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume everyone likes Finn? Good, cause you're getting a little chunk of Finn backstory in this chapter. He's just such a cutie.**

 **To the very sweet anon who asked if I'm doing more chapters of this; yes, I am. I was planning on writing forty chapters. And possibly an epilogue set a little after the fortieth week, maybe a couple of one shots. If there's anything anyone particularly wants to see then hit me up with a request, I think I've mentioned before that I love doing requests.**

 **FYI, Shanley is an Irish name literally meaning 'Old Hero'. It's very rare that any character name I choose is accidental or random, no matter how minor.**

 **Content Warning: more drinking. Man I feel like half my characters get drunk a lot. But nobody's really drinking in excess too much (well Jake again but as I said, party animal, and it's not like he's a violent drunk or an alcoholic). A bit of backstory and historical injury.**

* * *

By fourteen weeks the nausea had finally completely stopped. Of course that meant that Marcy had other things to worry about.

"My stomach is absolutely huge." she scowled at her reflection, turning from side to side to examine it from every angle. Bonnie glanced up from where she was carefully reapplying her mascara.

"That's perfectly normal, didn't you expect your bump would grow?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess? I just, why does it have to show so much tonight? I'm pretty certain it wasn't this big this morning. It couldn't have hung on for another day or two? Or looked a bit bigger, so it's obviously a pregnancy and not a pizza? I'm gonna just look fat. I don't wanna look fat to meet Finn's new girlfriend. And I don't wanna be one of _those_ pregnant women either, you know? Just because I'm not drinking doesn't mean I'm gonna bore everyone with the tiny details. I've never gotten over that time Lady told us about the position they conceived Junior in."

"And you accuse me of over thinking stuff. Relax, I'm sure Finn's already filled her in on the important details like you having tiny people growing in your abdomen." Bonnie replied, attention back on her make up. Marcy scowled at the back of her head.

"A tiny bit of sympathy might have been nice." she huffed, mostly to herself.

"Love, your body is being completely normal and your pregnancy is progressing in a healthy and natural way. That's a good thing. You just don't like that there's a new woman in Finn's life and that she might disapprove of you." Bonnie murmured without looking up from the mirror.

"Well, it's a worry! What if she doesn't let Finn spend time with us anymore? What if she's like that evil bitch he dated that time?"

Bonnie put down her mascara with a sigh and came across the bedroom to hug Marceline. Finn's last serious girlfriend had been pretty rude to them both and she'd treated him like crap. Bonnie could understand why Marcy was worried this new girl would be more of the same.

"Then we'll scare her off. Or just, tell him to grow a pair and not be a total doormat for every woman that so much as smiles at him. I know he's a slave for whatever pretty face will have him but how hot can this one really be? He said she's absolutely smoking but Finn isn't exactly fussy. You know he lacks quality control. Not like me, I have excellent taste." Bonnie replied distractedly, smiling as she ran a hand across the growing curves that had appeared along her girlfriend's stomach.

Of course once they got to the pub Marceline would have loved to have a second to remind Bonnie that she'd said that. It would have been amazingly fun to make her eat her words, because Finn's new girlfriend was genuinely _absolutely smoking._ She was jaw-droppingly curvy with a classic hourglass figure, wavy bright flame-orange hair, flawless makeup, perfect features and a beautiful smile that almost certainly had Finn doing literally anything she asked. Marceline could almost feel the dislike radiating from Bonnie before Finn even noticed them. She'd never have admitted it in a million years but she was competitive in more or less every way it was possible to be competitive and Finn's new girlfriend was another stunning redhead. Marcy took in the expression on her partner's face and sighed quietly; looked like Bonnie was about to have a rival.

"Hey! Guys, this is Phoebe." Finn beamed at them, looking like he might actually burst with pride. "Phoebe, this is Marceline. Marcy used to play in the college orchestra with me and Jake way back when we were all tiny kids; she's like a proper classical musician and everything now. Oh, and Bonnie, her partner. You're sorta all doctors. That's cool, right?"

The looks on both Bonnie and Phoebe's faces were almost identically horrified. Marcy smiled politely, very sure she already liked Finn's new girlfriend.

"So Phoebe, what kind of doctor are you?" Marcy asked just a little deviously.

"Um, experimental physics. Mostly thermodynamics at the moment but I'm published in a couple of different fields." she replied with a casual shrug. "How about you?" she added.

"Music." Marceline shrugged. "Classical, orchestral, that sorta stuff. It's lame but I love it anyway. Turns out it's pretty difficult to get a doctorate in punk so I ended up in the orchestra with all the other dorks."

"I'm an oncologist. Like, the kinda doctor who saves lives." Bonnie added with a slightly defensive tone to her voice. "I got made a consultant early last year, youngest consultant in the hospital. And I run our paediatrics department. It's just a small team but we're a specialist unit."

Finn had turned back to the bar to order another couple of drinks for them and completely missed the exchange. Marcy looked between the two redheads like she was watching a particularly entertaining TV show. Bonnie getting competitive about her career had never stopped being a little bit entertaining.

"Oh right. Finn didn't say. Oncology, that's like, giving people chemotherapy and stuff?"

Bonnie's expression was visibly cooling with every word the other redhead spoke. If she got any colder Marcy was sure she'd freeze solid.

"It's a bit more complicated than that. It takes five years just to get the basic medical qualification, they don't hand them out like media studies degrees." Bonnie replied with a scowl.

Oh, they were getting into dangerous territory. Finn turned back from the bar and shot Marcy a _look_ ; if she was starting to trash humanities degrees they both knew that a full strength Bonnie sulk was only minutes away. Marcy shrugged back at his pleading expression. She'd told Finn plenty of times what happened when they got home after a sulk. Bonnie absolutely had to be the best at everything and if she couldn't be best at something she generally got frustrated and wanted to do something she knew she _was_ best at. Usually that involved getting naked and being best at making Marceline gasp her name. Finn made a face; he'd told her just as many times that he _really_ didn't want to know.

"Hey look, Jake got a booth." the blonde man cut across them, nodding towards where his brother and Lady were waving from the corner. He trooped off with Phoebe at his elbow, leaving Marcy and Bonnie to trail after them with their drinks.

"Try to play nice, she's not even a medical doctor." Marcy muttered as they slid into one side of the booth. Bonnie just shot her a sour look in reply.

"Ladies! How are you both? How are the tiny Marcelings?" Jake asked with a grin when they took their seats opposite him. Marceline sighed and indicated to her swollen stomach for him to see for himself.

"Growing at an exponential rate. I look like I've been on an ice cream marathon." she replied with a shrug.

"She actually has, though." Bonnie confirmed. "She's making up for not eating for the last three months."

"Hey, one tub of ice cream is not a marathon. Not even a half marathon. Unrelatedly, we need to buy more ice cream." Marceline replied with a playful sulk. Bonnie patted her stomach and smiled sweetly in reply.

"Whatever, you know I'll buy literally anything you want anyway. All three of you."

Phoebe was looking politely confused over her cocktail. Bonnie kicked Finn's foot under the table.

"Ow, what? Oh right. Yeah, I forgot to tell you, Marcy's pregnant, she's having twins." Finn explained to Phoebe.

"Oh. Wow, cool, congratulations." Phoebe replied. "When are you due?"

"Not till, like, the middle of April next year. They were a bit hazy with my due date because twins are often early. I'm already sick of not being able to eat stuff, vomiting all the time and noticing new and worrying stretchy bits everywhere. I barely had a curve on my stomach yesterday and today it's suddenly just there. It's significantly less fun than those cute family films make it look, I'm supposed to be glowing or something? I just feel bloated and tired a lot." Marcy shrugged.

"So how did you meet Finn?" Bonnie asked with a fake polite smile. Marcy squeezed her hand under the table as a silent thank you for at least trying to be nice.

"Jake set us up. A group of us from the lab go for a meal at The Treehouse most Fridays, we're regulars. We got talking and after a couple of drinks I let slip that I like a man in uniform so Jake talked me into meeting his hunky policeman brother." Phoebe replied, smiling up shyly at Finn who grinned back adorably. They did make a cute couple, Bonnie grudgingly thought.

"How about the two of you?" Phoebe asked after a second. They exchanged a look and Marcy shrugged. That night hadn't been her finest hour but she couldn't bring herself to regret it, not when she'd met Bonnie because of it.

"I gate crashed one of her numerous doctor graduation balls." Marceline began after a second. "And rescued her from being hit on by drunk fuckboys."

"Marcy's orchestra had just finished performing in the building next door to the hotel that was hosting the ball. They'd run out of alcohol at the after show party, that was Jake's fault, and she figured that since she was wearing a magnificent glittery dress and totally passed as a graduate she might as well pretend to be one and steal drinks from our open bar." Bonnie added, dropping unthinkingly into their long practiced story pattern.

"It would totally have worked if I hadn't had the misfortune to be stuck next to a couple of loud and very persistent drunk dudes who apparently thought that Bonnie was way too cute to be gay. She was gonna break this one guy's arm but I managed to step in and stop anyone committing criminal acts because I'm just awesome like that. I was there with Jake. Not as like, a date, we used to share an apartment. I had a spare ticket for my performance and he had nothing better to do than come watch. Gatecrashing was his idea. Anyway Jake disappeared the moment he saw a free buffet table so I just figured I'd grab us a couple of glasses of champagne. I thought they were shouting at me, some crap about how ten minutes with them would cure any lesbian. I was definitely about to punch one or both of them but then when I turned around they were hassling literally the most gorgeous girl I'd ever seen so I just draped myself across her, told them to stop bothering my date before dragging her onto the dance floor."

"She makes it sound so dramatic." Bonnie added with a fond smile for her girlfriend. "I was just going to break his wrist a little bit. In my defence he'd just tried to shove his hand up my skirt and I wasn't about to passively stand there and let them sexually assault me."

"She was all 'Oh, thank you so much, Doctor...?' and that's when I realised what kind of graduation I'd just walked into. No way was I going to be able to pass myself off as a medical graduate. But of course I tried it anyway, because I'm a moron and I was more than a little bit tipsy and she's freaking gorgeous. I told her I was an Armed Forces doctor and I'd done my junior electives with the Army in Iraq."

"I'd had a couple of drinks and I actually believed her, as stupid as that sounds. Not gonna lie, I was legit thinking of murdering her in a jealous rage for a couple of minutes." Bonnie added.

"Anyway we danced a bit because hey it was a ball and I was just working up the nerve to ask for her number when Jake turned up and she disappeared. He'd brought food and because I was still absolutely blindsided by alcohol and love at first sight I just sorta shovelled a handful into my mouth. And I have a life threatening allergy to garlic. And Jake handed me a plate of garlic mushrooms." Marcy continued, grinning across the table at the big man.

"In my defence, it was my plate! You were just supposed to be holding it! Lucky you had your EpiPen. So all these doctor dudes were like, 'hey man, give her the adrenaline shot!' like I was supposed to be a doctor or something? I was so wasted I could barely even walk. I mean, they're just gonna let any drunk guy in a suit into the party because he staggers up to the doors with a pretty girl on his arm? I don't even look like a doctor!" Jake added. Bonnie frowned at him.

"What does a doctor look like then?"

"Tall, skinny, ginger, glowering at me because she still hasn't forgiven me for gatecrashing her graduation and almost killing her future girlfriend, surprisingly good at arm wrestling, trying hard to keep from laughing- ah, there we go." Jake replied, grinning when Bonnie gave in a let out a reluctant giggle.

"Anyway, Bonnie shoved Jake out of the way, pulled my dress up and stabbed me in the thigh with my EpiPen. She's a superhero, she totally saved my life." Marcy finished with a smile.

"She's exaggerating, anyone could have given her the shot. Just everyone else was really drunk and standing around with their mouths hanging open like brainless idiots. I just did what I'd been trained to do in an emergency." Bonnie mumbled self-consciously.

"She came with me in the ambulance and I sorta admitted I wasn't a doctor and the whole thing was a farce. I was all swollen still, I looked like a big ugly sausage. I like to think that's when she fell madly in love with me." Marceline grinned.

"I was absolutely furious for like, two hours afterwards? But then I remembered she'd saved me from having to hurt someone and before her head inflated like a balloon she was pretty much film-star hot. So I called the theatre the next day and let her conductor know she wasn't gonna be in for performances that night and then I was feeling kinda sorry for her so I sent her some flowers with a date invitation. Seriously, she looked like a model or something in that ball gown. Figured even if she was a pathological liar I could risk having dinner with her? So we went on a couple of dates and she actually wasn't as crazy as I'd first thought and we've been together eight years now." Bonnie finished with a warm smile for her partner. Marcy smiled back and squeezed her hand again.

"For, like, weeks afterwards Marcy was walking around like she was love-drunk." Finn cut in enthusiastically. He hadn't been there at the gate crashing incident but he wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to join in with part of the story he'd witnessed. "She was all 'ohh Bonnie is so clever and pretty, she's like the most amazing person ever, she's a _doctor_ and I'm sooo dumb I just play a billion different instruments like that's even anything special, I don't know what she sees in me, she's too perfect, I want to kiss her alllll the time, etc.'"

"Kinda like how you are about your new girlfriend." Lady observed quietly. She'd stayed silent through the story, having heard it a thousand times before. Besides she hadn't even met Jake until a few months after that night. It wasn't as entertaining a story as the gate crashing incident; she'd lived next door to Bonnie and met Jake at their Halloween house party.

"That's a really cute story, you guys are adorable together." Phoebe smiled. "And you, Finn, you talk about me like that? You're such a sweetheart." she added, leaning in and kissing her boyfriend on the cheek. He puffed up proudly and beamed around at them all, generously ignoring his big brother's eye roll.

Overall it wasn't as bad a night as they'd worried, Bonnie thought later. She still didn't much appreciate having another highly educated attractive redhead sprung on her without warning but she consoled herself that Phoebe wasn't the same kind of doctor as her, she probably got mistaken for one a lot and had to correct people. And it was clear to see that she absolutely adored Finn. It was hard to dislike anyone who looked at her friend with that much tenderness in their expression. Besides, she seemed to be getting on like a house on fire with Marcy which was always a plus. Perhaps Phoebe didn't know it but if she'd failed to make a good impression on his closest friends Bonnie would have bet anything that the relationship would fail after a few weeks. Even the usually reserved Lady seemed to like her so in the end Bonnie shrugged and conceded that there were probably other redheads with advanced degrees in the world. She could live with that, so long as none of them were oncologists.

On her way back from the bathroom Bonnie stopped at the bar to pick up another round of drinks, checking her watch to make sure they still had time before the pub closed. Jake had started before them and he'd always been a bit of a party animal, she could hear his drunken booming laugh from right across the crowded room. It momentarily drowned out almost everyone else which is why she almost missed a softer feminine voice speaking her name behind her. She turned and was face to face with Finn's new girlfriend who was fiddling with her sleeve nervously.

"Hey, um, Dr Sugar? I was hoping I could grab a quick word with you." Phoebe said a little uncertainly. Bonnie was suddenly very aware that the girl was a couple of years younger than Finn, who was a couple of years younger than her, so Phoebe was actually more than five years her junior. Maybe the other redhead's boasting about being published in several different fields had been overcompensation; she wouldn't be the first person to be a little intimidated by Bonnie.

"Sure, are you ok?" Bonnie asked as gently as possible around the dizzying effects of four or five drinks.

"Yeah, I um, just- well look, Finn talks about you a lot and I can't help but notice that we have a lot in common, like more than our hair colour? I just really like him, you know? And I'm sure there's a more subtle way of doing this but I suck at subtle so I just wanted to ask, is there any history, you know, between the two of you?"

She muttered it without quite managing to meet the older woman's eyes. Bonnie stared at her for a moment in confusion before she worked out what Phoebe was asking.

"Oh! Right, like more than friends? Oh honey, I'm one hundred percent a lesbian, I've never been interested in men. But it's sweet that you wanted to ask politely instead of flinging accusations around like some of his exes. No, there's nothing between us. I've been friends with Finn for years and he's never so much as kissed my cheek, you don't have anything to worry about there."

Phoebe's brow creased in surprise.

"His exes accused you of having a… a thing? Like, have they not seen your gorgeous and charming girlfriend? Jeez, I thought I'd ask just in case, I didn't think it was at all likely." she said bewilderedly.

"Oh yes, some of them were weirdly insistent. One in particular, I think she thought me and Marcy were going to lure him home with us, because that's totally what lesbians do. Talk about unresolved issues." Bonnie answered with a smile. It was funny now that Finn had stopped seeing that girl.

"He's had a lot of exes, then? I didn't want to ask, figured a guy like him would probably have a colourful history." Phoebe mumbled.

"He's popular with the ladies, yes. But Finn's probably the last true gentleman I've met, when he's your man he's yours through and through. You don't need to worry about him being unfaithful. I've known him eight years and Marcy's known him more like thirteen years and he's just not that kinda man. He's not told you this himself?" Bonnie asked in surprise.

"Finn hasn't told me much about his past. I tried to ask a bit but he said it wasn't an interesting story. Is there something I should know about?"

Bonnie bit her lip, torn. If it had been the other way around and she'd just met Marcy and wanted to know about her past then asking a close friend would have been her first tactic too. But it wasn't her story to share, Finn clearly hadn't disclosed the darker things that had happened to him. And that was his choice, it wasn't ethical for Bonnie to go around breaking his trust like that. Not when she knew how sensitive Finn could be.

"I don't know much about his previous girlfriends, he's a private guy." Bonnie relied carefully. She was quietly relieved that Phoebe didn't notice she'd answered a slightly different question than the one she'd been asked.

They made their way back to the booth with the last round of drinks and as she was sipping her own cocktail Bonnie caught a sulky glare from Marceline.

"Problem?" she asked slyly.

"You're drinking a strawberry daiquiri." Marcy accused. "You utter bitch, you know they're my favourite."

"Try some." Bonnie replied mischievously. Of course she knew what her girlfriend's favourite drink was, of course she'd anticipated what would happen when she came back to their table with one.

"You know I can't." Marcy pouted.

"One sip will be ok, just try it." Bonnie pressed.

"No, what the hell? Why are you trying to poison our unborn children? Bon, what-"

Too late, the redhead had leaned across and cut Marceline's words off with a kiss. She pulled back after a second grinning.

"You little sneak!" Marcy gasped, licking her lips. "There's no alcohol in that, you got a mocktail!"

"And I got an extra-large one with two straws in it. Perfect for sharing." Bonnie grinned back.

Marcy did try to reply around the straw that was already in her mouth but it came out as a sort of incomprehensible gurgle because she was also trying to swallow as much strawberry juice as humanly possible. Bonnie assumed it was a declaration of love, gratitude and hopefully a promise to do the laundry for the next month in return.

...

They finished their drinks and were making their way outside when it happened. As with the weekend before Marcy was driving and she'd offered Jake and Lady a lift home too, leaving Finn to walk home with Phoebe. He lived pretty close to the town centre and since he'd let slip that they hadn't been intimate yet Marceline was pretty sure she knew what was gonna happen that night. She was glad for him, Phoebe seemed lovely.

And then out of the blue a voice addressed them.

"Lieutenant Madigan! Well this is a surprise! Small world, eh?"

A tall older man with shaggy greying hair who'd been leaning against the wall smoking unfolded and limped forwards, grinning at Finn like a long lost son. And old habits apparently died hard; Finn's arm seemed to twitch for a moment like he was resisting but after a second he snapped off a crisp salute.

"Captain Shanley, Sir. I didn't know you'd received your discharge, Sir." Finn replied politely, seeming almost to pull into himself and at the same time stand straighter and taller. Phoebe was staring between them in confusion, Jake was wincing for his brother.

"At ease son, we're not on the parade ground. Nine months a civvie, now. The old leg was playing up and I'm not one of the young bloods anymore, I took retirement. How's your stomach?" the older man asked politely.

"Still bothers me sometimes, Sir, but I can't complain. I'm with the civilian police now, Sir. Just waiting to promote to detective." Finn replied, eyes straight ahead and chin up like he was still standing for inspection.

"Knew you'd go far, son, I always said. Helmand was wasted on a bright kid like you. Nasty business out there, Madigan, very nasty. Well I'm glad you're doing well. Will we be seeing you for the veterans Christmas Ball this year?"

"Perhaps, Sir. Work allowing. Be good to see the old squad, Sir."

"Well then perhaps I'll see you at Christmas. Goodnight, Finn."

"Goodnight, Billy."

The man limped off down the street and all eyes turned to Finn and the tight look on his girlfriend's face.

"Lieutenant Madigan?" Phoebe asked quietly. Finn sighed and shook his head gently, like he was telling himself not to be afraid.

"I joined the forces right after university, did two tours in Afghanistan and was shot four months into my second tour. Honourable medical discharge which is the Army's way of telling me to politely fuck off. Joined the police instead just as soon as I'd healed enough to pass their fitness tests and now I only have one kidney. Which is another reason I don't drink so much. And babe, I was gonna tell you. But not like this." he replied, finally sagging from his ramrod straight position.

"Let me get this straight." Phoebe breathed. "You're a war hero. An injured war hero who's been suffering in silence all this time, and you don't like to talk about your past because of it?"

"I'm sorry. I just, I didn't want to scare you away. Sometimes I can be kinda messed up because of it." Finn mumbled at his shoes.

"Uh, sorry to butt in." Jake interrupted drunkenly despite his friends both grabbing his arms to stop him. "But how did you not notice his scar? It's like a fist sized hole in the side of his stomach."

"Jake! Leave it! It's not-" Lady began, but Finn cut her off.

"Because unlike you, man, some of us can keep our pants on for more than ten seconds around a woman. We were waiting, I wanted it to be perfect cause she's special. Ok?" he replied defensively.

"Bro, I didn't mean to upset you. Just wanted to know, is all." Jake muttered, half reaching out to his little brother but not quite letting his hand connect with Finn's arm.

"It's cool, man. Just, y'know how I am about my stomach. Look, Phoebe, I should have told you all this earlier. I'm sorry. I understand if you don't want to see me again." Finn told her seriously. "But I never wanted to deceive you. I just suck at talking about it."

"Are you kidding? You're a hot police officer _and_ a war hero? Come on Finn, we've gotta get back to your place, we've got some catching up to do." Phoebe replied with a devious smile that left no doubts about the sort of catching up she had in mind.

"But it's a mess and I wanted it to be perfect." he mumbled.

"It's got you in it, right? That's perfect enough for me." she replied, leaning in and kissing him softly. Finn kissed back and slid his arms around her, drawing her close in obvious relief.

"Come on, guys. I think our presence isn't really needed right now." Marcy murmured, tugging Jake's arm until he reluctantly followed them down the street and away from his brother.

"Jake, you're a butthole." Bonnie informed the big guy as they walked. "Why couldn't you just let Finn handle it? Obviously she's not seen him with his shirt off or she'd have noticed the scar. Oh man, that was a really bad time to butt in."

"I just wanted to know!" he replied. "Cause, you know, he's my little brother. It was hard enough seeing him lying there bleeding through his bandages when they airlifted him home, you should have seen our Dad. He wouldn't leave Finn's side, he thought he was gonna die. I just wanna know that he's happy and that the girl that he's with is looking after him. Is that not alright?"

"Hey, I have a little brother too. I know how it is. Just, you gotta let them do their thing sometimes, yeah? Come on big guy, time to get you home." Bonnie replied gently. Lady shot her a grateful smile when Jake wasn't looking and Bonnie nodded back carefully. Jake was really protective of his brother, it was an older sibling thing and Bonnie totally got that. At least Phoebe seemed awesome. They were all pretty relieved about that, she seemed like the kind of girl who'd be good for Finn.


	15. Week 15

**The eternally awesome dudeguybromans had a question regarding character ages, and I'll be honest I hadn't really pinned that down until now. But given that it takes five years to get a basic medical degree in the UK and five to eight years after that to become a hospital consultant or department specialist I'm fairly confident at pinning Bonnie's age at around thirty or thirty one. Which is a little older than I'd initially pictured her but I think it quite works in an AU setting. I figured Marcy would be ever so slightly younger, perhaps by a year. So about twenty nine, coming up thirty. Which seems to be right in the age range for a settled same-sex couple to begin a family around these parts.**

 **Content Warning: sadness and plot, medical terminology (pretty glad I know my stuff or this research would take _forever_ ), misogyny, mental anguish, very lightly implied sexiness, illness, sassiness. Of course, every chapter with Marcy in should really come with a sassiness warning.**

* * *

The whirring and thumping of the MRI machine had never ever stopped being unnerving for Bonnie, even with all her professional experience. She'd never had to be scanned for anything, she could only imagine how loud it must be inside the machine or how a tiny child like Erin would cope being in there. But the little girl just smiled and gave her a thumbs up as she was shut inside the equipment.

"Ok, sweetie. I'm gonna switch it on now, I want you to lie as still as you possibly can. Alright?" Bonnie told her through the microphone that lead to speakers inside the machine. Erin nodded through the little viewing window and tried to lie as still as possible, screwing her eyes tight shut.

"Right. We can begin." Bonnie told Jason Toronto, the radio technician running the scan that day. King hovered behind them like a malicious cloud, just waiting for any moment to jump in and make thing difficult for her. Well Bonnie wasn't playing by his rules, there was a reason she'd made consultant more than a year before him and it wasn't just because she was good at passing exams or studied hard enough to make competency long before most junior doctors. She was going to do everything completely by the book, let him try to find a single flaw in her professional conduct. He'd be looking for a very long time, she wasn't about to make any mistakes.

"Right. We're starting." Jason told her as he switched on the machine. That same awful whirring grew as the magnets inside began to fire.

"You ok in there, sweetie?" Bonnie asked worriedly through the microphone. Erin lifted her thumb up again but kept her head and body as still as possible. It was heart breaking that a child that young knew exactly how to act during an MRI scan. But her small face was screwed up with discomfort and Bonnie wished more than ever that there was anything at all that she could do to make it easier for the little girl.

"This is a waste of time." King growled unexpectedly. "It's a waste of resources and potentially very disturbing for the patient too. She's not a lab rat, Sugar. You can't just test her because you have nothing better to do."

"A girl who's been fully toilet trained since she was a year and a half old suddenly beginning to wet the bed every night and suffering night terrors indicates a neurological problem. I'm being thorough." Bonnie replied calmly. She's taken an extra ten minutes out of her morning to meditate, she was more than capable of handling King's bitchiness.

"Try to stay still, Erin." Jason said through the microphone.

"She's _scared,_ Sugar! She has leukaemia again and she's one kidney lighter, you don't think that might have something to do with her nightmares or bed wetting? And subjecting her to a barrage of unnecessary and invasive testing simply to satisfy your morbid curiosity isn't going to help her at all." King replied with a scowl.

"Erin, honey, I need you to lie still." Jason said again.

"With all due respect, Julian, I've known this patient personally since she was a year old. I know her history and I've seen how she reacts to medical testing. This isn't normal behaviour for her and I'm concerned that since the leukaemia is clearly spreading there may be a secondary tumour in her brain. I appreciate your concerns, I really do. But if there's a brain tumour and we miss it-"

"We already know she's a hopeless case, Sugar! That little girl is going to die whatever you do and all this extra testing is both cruel and unnecessary! The best thing you could do for her now if you really cared about her wellbeing would be to gently prepare her for the end and let her go home to spend her last weeks with her parents."

"So just give up on her, you mean? Because the balance of statistics isn't on her side so you're not willing to even _try?_ " Bonnie replied heatedly, beginning to lose a bit of her composure.

"Doctor Sugar-"Jason started

"Look, I'm sorry that someone finally had to say it to your face, Sugar. But women aren't cut out for this kind of medicine. Your hormones and emotions take over and you want to mother all the sad little children and it makes you irrational and that leads to bad medical decisions. You should have stuck to nursing or maybe staying home with a family, that's what women are best at."

"Are you telling me I'm a bad doctor because I'm _female_? King, I don't need to remind you that I am your supervisor and that you are on your absolute final warning. So I'm gonna give you the opportunity to apologise before you lose your job-"

"DR KING DR SUGAR SHE'S GOING INTO A SEIZURE!"

Bonnie was throwing open the MRI machine before the magnets had even whirred back to silence, sliding the examination bed out and hitting the emergency alarm button as she did so. Erin was jerking and shaking so hard the whole bed shook, eyes rolling back into her head and blood trickling from her mouth where she must have bitten her tongue.

"Wh-what do we do?" Jason asked, clearly way out of his depth. Radiography didn't usually involve being in any kind of emergency situations.

"King, call resus and get a crash cart! Jason, there's a Midazolam dropper in the emergency kit, fetch it now!" Bonnie commanded them, no space left at all in her brain to think about anything except her patient.

Jason rushed to the emergency box on the far wall and ripped it open, grabbing the anti-seizure medication and fumbling it into Bonnie's outstretched hand. She carefully placed the tip of the dropper against Erin's lips and administered a few drops of the medication.

"That's it, honey, come on. You're gonna be ok. There, nice and calm. That's it." Bonnie murmured as the medication began to take effect and the small body's movements grew less violent. It was more to reassure herself than Erin because the little girl was unconscious. A moment later King was back with the crash cart from resus and he deftly slid the ventilation tube down Erin's throat. He didn't stop to ask if it was needed because even if he was an asshole as a person he was still a qualified doctor and he knew the effects of emergency Midazolam medication could be respiratory arrest, she'd need help breathing for a while. Next second the resus team were there wheeling Erin out of the room for more emergency treatment and Bonnie was left watching her go with nothing she could do but review the small amount of data the MRI had revealed before the seizure hit and try to make a decision based on that. It didn't feel like nearly enough.

"You were right, she has a brain tumour. This doesn't look good." King murmured, shaking his head at the screen on Jason's display.

"No." Bonnie agreed regretfully. "It looks very much like an inoperable diffuse glioblastoma."

"Multiforme. Poor kid. Poor parents too." King replied. "You need me to call them?"

"If you could, Julian. I'll need to get these couple of scans up to radiology and see what we can put together."

He nodded and hurried out of the room to call Erin's parents for an emergency conference.

"What does that mean for her prognosis?" Jason asked carefully. Anything that had Sugar and King agreeing and speaking to each other politely must be pretty bad, he figured.

"It's a type of astrocytoma. A common sort of brain tumour." Bonnie replied distantly, still staring at the screen. "It's going right through her brain and spreading fast, it's a high grade tumour which means it's quick growing and probably the cause of her recent neurological symptoms. It can't be removed because of how deeply its roots go into her brain stem. Julian was right, it's inoperable and Erin's a hopeless case. There's no way this won't be terminal."

"So she's going to die?" Jason asked, horrified.

"I'm afraid so. It's a case of when, not if." she confirmed sadly.

Jason took a second to consider the implications of that. He was just training, he hadn't been in radiology very long and he hadn't signed up to watch small children die. Perhaps, he thought, it wasn't the career for him after all.

...

It was dark and cold by the time Bonnie pulled up on the driveway at home. She took a moment to just sit quietly in her car, mentally preparing herself not to show any outward signs of being stressed as hell and deeply upset. They'd held the emergency conference with Erin's parents while the little girl was still in recovery and had explained that her cancer was terminal, that they could give her treatment to extend her life but that she would never recover. The whole time strong, professional Bonnie had been talking while emotional, caring Bonnie had curled up and cried quietly in the back of her brain. But the one thing she couldn't do was bring any of that home with her, not when Marceline was still so emotional and freaked out by cancer, not when it involved a small child and she was more maternal than ever since the pregnancy began to show. So Bonnie took a moment to shove all of the things she couldn't show at home down inside herself, locked them away in a mental box that she'd deal with later, quietly, once Marcy was asleep. So far her girlfriend had never found her crying in the middle of the night, Bonnie was very good at crying silently and pretending to be asleep if Marceline moved at all. Nobody at work talked about it but she'd be willing to bet that every single doctor at the hospital had done the same more than once during their career. Protecting their partners and families from the awful details of what medicine sometimes involved was just part of the job, Bonnie had always known that.

She slammed the lid closed on the mental box and locked away all the anguish and churning sadness that Erin's diagnosis had caused. Tonight she would just focus on Marcy and making sure she felt good, maybe read to her bump or talk about baby names.

"Hey! There's my beautiful birthday girl!" Marcy smiled at her the moment she walked through the door.

"Uh, what?" Bonnie blinked.

"Twelfth of November. Unless I'm very much mistaken it's our annual 'Remind Bonnie that she's old as fuck and I'm still youthful and eternally beautiful' day. It's your thirty first birthday today, you doofus. Happy Birthday."

"Oh. Thanks. I'd forgotten." Bonnie replied tiredly, following her girlfriend through to the dining room and sliding into her seat. "You need a hand serving up the food? It smells divine, by the way."

"Nah, you're old, you might fall and break a hip. I've got this, babe. Just sit down and chill, I made your birthday dinner." Marcy grinned back.

It was spaghetti, Bonnie's favourite. And as much as she appreciated the thought her heart really wasn't in it.

"Right, what's up? You've been really quiet and you weren't even outraged when I repeatedly called you old." Marcy asked after about fifteen minutes of watching Bonnie sigh and stare glumly at her food. "Worried about being an old lady at the 'surprise' birthday party you know Jake has planned for this weekend? Or just a tough day at work?"

"Please tell Jake to politely cancel, I can't face another party. Not three weekends running. I'm not eighteen any more. No, just King being as asshole again. I'd get him fired for it but we're so short staffed right now that I can't even think about running the department alone for the time being." Bonnie replied carefully. She left out any of the details that had truly upset her, though. No reason for Marcy to be as upset as she was.

"Urgh, I hate that guy. He's such a butthole. You look stressed and tired, babe. Come on, you're getting a birthday girl massage." Marcy replied decisively. Bonnie nodded and took her uneaten food through to the fridge since she had absolutely no appetite.

They went up to the bedroom so Bonnie had somewhere to stretch out and she didn't even complain when Marceline wanted to put on all of her unnecessary massage accessories like relaxing spa music and scented candles. If it made her partner feel like she was helping then Bonnie would have let her do just about anything.

"Right, take your shirt and bra off and lie down." Marcy directed once the candles were lit and the music was jangling away quietly to itself.

"That's usually my line." Bonnie replied with a small smile.

"Are all doctors dominant perverts or is it just you? Take your clothes off so I can give you a nice massage, not so I can fondle your chest. I mean, I like doing that too but I figured you might prefer if I actually made the effort to give you a genuine massage before moving on to the birthday naughtiness." Marcy said as she rummaged in the draw by her side of the bed looking for massage lotion.

"I might just be up for the massage tonight, I'm not feeling my best." Bonnie replied quietly. Marcy shot her a concerned look as she straightened up from the drawer.

"Is there anything you wanna talk about, babe? You can always talk to me."

 _I wish I could._

"No, I'm fine. Just tired and stuff, I'm PMSing like a motherfucker and I didn't sleep well last night. Cinnamon decided my feet were evil and must be destroyed."

"You know what though?" Marcy replied with a grin that was entirely too proud of itself. "You are actually _are_ a motherfucker. Get it? Cause I'm-"

"Someone's mother, yeah I got it. Are we doing this massage or am I just lying here half naked for your viewing pleasure?" Bonnie cut her off.

"Why not both? Roll onto your front, babe. I'll start with the lower back."

It was a wonderful back rub at least, Marceline was talented in almost every single thing a pair of human hands could be used for including massage. Bonnie had been known to joke when she was in better moods that she was one of the instruments Marcy played best. It had crossed Bonnie's mind more than once that if she hadn't gone into music and didn't have a general fear of hospitals and illness Marceline could have revolutionised the field of experimental surgery. Or sculpture, art, fashion, pretty much anything that required manual dexterity. She sometimes drew for fun, quick doodles and sketches that Bonnie nevertheless felt sure would have made Da Vinci himself snap his brushes in frustration because he'd never be as good. But Marcy wasn't terribly interested in art, the most she'd ever done was sell a few portraits at uni because people had requested them. Perhaps in a parallel universe Marceline was a famous artist, Bonnie thought distantly as her girlfriend gently massaged the tension out of her spine. And maybe she'd have something a little less intense as a job, maybe she'd have gone into the sciences or something instead of medicine. Physics, perhaps, or chemistry. Something that didn't involve children in her care regularly dying and taking little pieces of her heart with them.

There were warm strong hands running along the back of her legs and the stresses of the day felt distant, locked tight in the mental box where they couldn't touch her. And yes she decided, it was her birthday and she wanted her partner to use her talented hands to make her feel better even if it was only for a little while, even if she'd need to face the real world again tomorrow. So when her girlfriend's lips grazed the back of Bonnie's neck and a tentative, questioning touch slid a little higher she sighed and nodded, very willing to relax into the sensations and allow Marcy to soothe her in every way she could. Sweep away her worries just for a little while.

"I love you." Bonnie breathed against her girlfriend's skin later, when their heartbeats had finally settled back to a normal rhythm. "I don't tell you enough. You always make me feel so special."

"That's because you are special, babe." Marcy replied with a lazy smile, still coming back down from her afterglow. Then she frowned, lightly. "Hey, um, I've got a weird feeling in my tums."

"Maybe it's love." Bonnie replied, not wanting to expend the effort to open her eyes just yet.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's not love. I mean I feel love too, but this is more like- _holy crap!_ I think it's the babies wiggling around! It's like a sorta tickling or something, like butterflies!"

"Best birthday present ever." Bonnie murmured happily, running a hand across the bump. "I love our family so much."

"It's pretty magical from my side too. I wish you could feel this, babe." Marcy replied a little croakily, trying not to let her happy tears overcome her. "They're moving around and they're so real and perfect, I wish we could meet them right now."

"Another twenty five weeks, maybe less. It'll go by so fast."

"Hey, you want your present now?" Marcy asked quietly, stroking Bonnie's hair lovingly.

"Mm, didn't I just get it?" she asked, eyes still closed and finally feeling more relaxed than she had since that morning.

"No, that was just me being unable to think clean thoughts while touching your naked body. Right, stay there and I'll be back in a second." Marcy replied, stretching and slipping out of the bed. She padded quietly though to one of the spare bedrooms, still naked with one hand resting lovingly against her bump, and grabbed the bag she'd hidden behind the wardrobe. She took it back to the bedroom proudly because she was completely certain she'd found the best present yet.

"Sit up, birthday girl!"

"If this is a hilariously shaped dildo again I'm going to be very disappointed."

"That was a joke, I got you a real present that year too."

"Yes, a joke. That's why you made me keep it."

But Bonnie smiled anyway when the gift was placed in her hands, opening the paper carefully so she had time to appreciate the surgical precision it had been wrapped with. A small metal box fell into her lap when she tipped the packet and she turned it over curiously.

"Seeds?" she asked eventually, staring down at the label. "I can't read it properly without my glasses."

"You want me to read the label to you?" Marcy asked, barely able to contain her anticipation.

"Yeah, that'd be good. Thanks."

"Ahem, right. Contents; twelve rose seeds, certificate of authenticity, planting and growing instructions, legal naming documentation."

"Why do rose seeds need legal naming documents?" Bonnie asked, confused.

"Because these are unique rose seeds. They're a brand new hybrid, bred to look a specific way. Bred to look exactly how I ordered them, actually." Marcy replied, a touch smugly.

"What?"

"Yep. There's this company online who offer to breed roses to a specification and send the seeds. So not only are you now the proud owner of twelve seeds of completely unique roses that nobody else in the world has, but if you squint here at the name of the subspecies you might just recognise what they're called.

" _Rosa Bonnibel_. You named a rose for me?" Bonnie breathed, staring down at the box.

"I did. I thought, I could name a star! You'd like that. But how would we really know which star was yours? And do I really wanna name something cold, distant and possibly already dead after you? I thought you'd appreciate your own rose better." Marceline replied, sliding her arms around Bonnie's neck and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Happy birthday, babe. A dozen pink roses for my darling. According to the information leaflet they're apparently 'a hybrid tea rose with a long flowering period, a small round double flower that produces a high fragrance and has darker pink outer petal tips leading to paler pink in the centre'. I wanted them to be tall, pink and nice smelling. And they're unique, just like you."

"You are the squishiest, most romantic little marshmallow in the world, do you know that?" Bonnie replied, snuggling into the hug and resting her head on Marcy's shoulder.

"Yeah yeah, just don't go around telling anyone. It'll ruin my badass punk image." Marcy muttered, rubbing her neck in an unconscious gesture of embarrassment.

"Yeah, of course. Because your pretty gold harp didn't already do that."

"I can play Metallica on that harp. Don't mock the harp's badass credentials."

They snuggled down in bed together, Bonnie resting a hand on Marceline's bump like she did every night now.

"Our little wiggly butterflies. They're the best birthday present ever, you know. But the roses are a close second." she murmured tiredly.

"And the massage, right? I give a good massage?"

"Yeah, you know you do. That was pretty amazing too."

"You wanna talk about your day, babe? I know something's bothering you." Marcy asked quietly.

"No, it's sad stuff. Cancer stuff. I'd rather not bring you down with it."

"Ok. I'm right here if you change your mind. Sleep well, darling."

Bonnie didn't reply more than an indistinct mumble, already beginning to slide into sleep. Marcy lay awake a while longer, staring at the ceiling and quietly worrying about her partner while their babies fluttered restlessly in her stomach.

...

When she woke next morning it was like someone had replaced Bonnie's throat with sandpaper and half-filled her head with wet concrete. No way was she going into work like that, not when the greater part of her day was spent around children and teens with fragile immune systems.

"You look like a zombie." Marcy informed her over breakfast, annoyingly loud and bouncy especially given that it was only just past seven in the morning. Bonnie tried to tell her to fuck off with her cheerful morning mood but all that came out of her mouth was a weird rasp and she just shook her head and sloped off back up the stairs to bed. Marcy knew the drill, she'd call Lydia and the receptionist would let administration know she'd be off for the day. Bonnie was annoyingly prone to tonsillitis.

"Made you some lemon and honey tea." Marcy announced a little later, placing Bonnie's mug next to the bed and coming to sit next to her girlfriend. "Pass me my phone, please?"

Bonnie wanted to ask what for but words were difficult to get out past the pain in her throat so she just handed it over sullenly and watched curiously while Marcy dialled someone.

"Hey, good morning! Did I wake you? Ah good. Listen, I've got a favour to ask. If I email you the notes can you do the composition seminar this afternoon? We're having something of a domestic emergency and I'm not gonna be able to leave the house today. No, the babies are fine, Bonnie has Doctor Flu though. Yeah. A lot like Man Flu but probably even more likely to be fatal. Yeah, I'll look after myself too. Sure. See you tomorrow."

"Keila?" Bonnie managed to whisper.

"Yeah, she owes me for letting her sit out the last practical due to a hangover. Besides I can just sit in bed with you and do my grading from here, make sure you look after yourself. Drink your tea, babe." Marcy added. Bonnie frowned at her but sipped the tea reluctantly.

"I feel like death." Bonnie croaked out after a few minutes. The tea had helped her throat a little but that just meant she was overwhelmingly aware of how the rest of her body ached. "So far being thirty one sucks. Don't do it, it's a trap."

"Not gonna be a problem for another year and a bit, I'm still legally allowed to tell people I'm twenty-mumble." Marcy replied distractedly, staring at her laptop. "It's not like I can do anything about it anyway, aging happens to everyone. And it really beats the alternative."

"Immortality?"

"Dying. You're such a Twilight fangirl."

"Mm. Gonna sleep more. Thanks for the tea and staying home."

"Rest up, frog lady. I'll make you some lunch later when you sound less like an amphibian."

It wasn't a bad day, really. Bonnie was ill and restless but thankfully slept for most of the morning and seemed a little better when Marcy woke her for lunch. Plus not having to listen to her hopeless first years play their terrible compositions was an unexpected bright side, Marceline thought to herself. After she'd fed Bonnie enough chicken soup that the redhead complained she was about to turn into a chicken they went down to the lounge and curled up on the sofa in front of the TV, evicting Peppermint and Cinnamon from where they were snuggled together napping.

"How do two fairly regular sized cats manage to take up the whole of our enormous sofa?" Marcy wondered out loud.

"Funky cat powers. Same way they turn to furry liquid the moment you try to get them into a carry cage." Bonnie replied, still a little raspy but better than she had been. "Can I pick the film?"

"Sure, you're sick so I'll even let you watch Disney if you absolutely must." Marcy replied with a world weary sigh.

"You're the best." Bonnie said with a small smile.

"I know. I'd date me."

They ended up watching Beauty and the Beast for the ten hundredth time. At least Bonnie's sore throat prevented her from trying to sing along, which Marceline was quietly grateful for. By the time the movie ended they were both stretched out on the sofa, wrapped tightly around each other under a blanket.

"How about Belle for the girl?" Bonnie asked a little drowsily.

"Not even if you let me call the other one Hurricane."

"Spoilsport."

"But we do need to think of girl names. I quite like Ruby, what do you think?" Marcy asked.

"Actually that's pretty. I like it. But Ruby Sugar sounds like a stripper so maybe we'd have to keep it as a middle name." Bonnie replied thoughtfully.

"Ok? I mean, how are we handling the whole raising a girl in a sexist world gig? I assume you're gonna be reading her classical feminist literature the moment she's old enough to sit up?"

"Of course. Both of them. Even if the second twin is a boy, especially if the second twin is a boy. I have thought about it, I wasn't planning on going into this without a plan. I want to be a good parent and I want my kids to grow up to be the sort of people who don't treat others differently based on their gender. So yeah, I'm gonna raise them to appreciate feminism, and other social justice issues too. That ok?" Bonnie asked quietly. It was the most she'd managed to talk in one go all day.

"Sure, I'm completely with you on that. And I'm gonna raise them to love all kinds of music. Except rap. Oh fine, even rap. Hey Bon, what do we tell them when they ask why you're a different colour from the three of us?" Marcy added thoughtfully.

"The truth. That there are lots of different skin types and that having different skin or hair doesn't make us less of a family. I guarantee you, the first thing you learn when you study any kind of biological science is that being genetically related really doesn't count for anything. So it doesn't bother me that nobody's gonna know we're family if I don't tell them first. So long as the kids know."

"See? That's exactly why I know that having babies with you is the right thing to do. You're just, I dunno, perfect. Like someone made you out of all the random thoughts I ever had about what I'd want my ideal girlfriend to be." Marcy said happily, leaning in for a kiss.

Really after the rollercoaster the last day had been a lazy day on the sofa watching kids' movies and planning for their babies was exactly what Bonnie needed. She almost managed to ignore the ominous rumblings coming from the mental box her grief for Erin was locked in.

"Pretty glad I'm having babies with you too." she replied a little scratchily. "You're amazing. You're gonna be such a wonderful mother."


	16. Week 16

**Ahh guys I'm so sorry I haven't posted this sooner! Today is the last day of my vacation and I've been pretty busy while I was away, so please accept my apologies. Normal updating will resume after this, I'll be back home and ready to write.**

 **As usual there are a couple of notes with this chapter. Therion are an absolutely amazing band and if you've never heard of them I can't begin to recommend strongly enough that you go listen to them, they rock. According to the good folks over at Google Freddie Mercury did in fact wear Armani for Men, although I've no idea how often or if that was just a celebrity endorsement. But either way, that's your Freddie Fact for the day. Yes, I'm a colossally huge Queen fan.**

 **Content Warning: emotions, feels, that's about it. Although it probably goes without saying, do not attempt to tie dye a cat or any other animal.**

* * *

The scene that evening in the Sugar-Abadeer household was a tense one. A battle of wills between Bonnie and Marcy always was, everyone in their lives knew to stay out of their way when they argued for fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

"Bon-"

"No."

"Come on babe, please?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Oh come on! Why not?"

"Do you even hear yourself right now? You'll be more than eight months pregnant by then, or already a mother of two tiny and premature newborns! There is no way you can go to a rock concert! I don't care if Elvis himself comes back from the dead and wants to give you a private lap dance, no!"

"But they're my all-time favourite band! And seeing them live was my teenage dream!"

"Your teenage dream was to find out what aftershave Freddie Mercury used and you asked Elton John that time you met him in Rio!"

"Classic Armani for Men. What a pro."

"Your father wears Armani for Men, it's a bit weird. And you're still not going to see a stupid goth band while either heavily pregnant or having just given birth!"

Marcy tried really hard to hold in her sigh of frustration; sometimes she got sick of having to explain the same thing over and over.

"Therion aren't a goth band. They're a symphonic metal band who sometimes borrow elements from different genres, including but not limited to goth rock. Just because they released an album called Gothic Kabbalah doesn't mean their whole sound is goth. And I can go for one night can't I? It's gonna be, like, three or four hours, maximum!"

"And how often do you think newborn and possibly premature twins need feeding? Do you think I want to be left home alone all evening with two tiny babies who will most likely spend the whole night screaming for you? Or do you think it'll be fun to distress your unborn children so badly with the bass vibrations that you go into labour and have to be rushed to hospital in the back of an ambulance again?" Bonnie asked, annoyed. Perhaps Marcy was trying to be funny or something but it wasn't working.

"Fine, ok. No rock concerts. Geez, I just thought I'd ask about it." Marcy muttered to herself, turning back to the half-prepared dinner and slicing carrots with unnecessary violence.

The kitchen was too tense and she'd had another very stressful day so in the end Bonnie just went through to the dining room and slumped into her chair. She tried to ignore Marcy's angry clattering as she cooked and instead rested her head in her hands, hoping to ease the pounding headache building in her temples. Normally Marceline liked cooking; if she was alone in the kitchen then the whole downstairs of the house was filled with singing and the smells of her delicious food. There was no singing that night though, if Bonnie had been so inclined she might have managed to hear a little resentful muttering but she was too worn down to bother straining her ears for it. They ate in silence and after dinner Marcy disappeared into her music room, closing the door in a very firm and still huffy manner. Bonnie took a bath and went to bed early, it was all she was in the mood for. She closed her eyes and was asleep long before Marcy had finished an angry cello version of Enter Sandman. Perhaps the early night was why she woke abruptly far too early the next morning, long before the alarm.

Bonnie lay very still, starting up at the dark ceiling overhead and listening to her partner breathe slow and heavy in her sleep. Marcy was lying with her back to her, a lumpy dark shape between them on the pillows announced that she'd still been upset when she'd gone to sleep and had grabbed her old teddy bear Hambo from under the bed. It wasn't like Bonnie enjoyed having to be the voice of reason, just sometimes Marcy got carried away with her flights of fancy and got a little disconnected from reality. Then her girlfriend had to bring her back down to earth and she always resented that. If Bonnie had just agreed to every passing whim of Marceline's they'd be living on a pirate ship surrounded by hundreds of rescue cats and probably either selling tie dyed handmade hemp dresses or robbing banks for a living. Marceline's lack of impulse control was one of the things Bonnie loved best about her but it did make it hard to say no when she had her heart set on something completely impossible. Bonnie sighed quietly to herself in the darkness and rolled onto her side, sliding one arm around Marcy's waist to rest her hand against the growing bump. She had more than just her girlfriend to worry about now, she had to keep a level head for the whole family.

"I do love you, you know." Bonnie murmured into the darkness. "And I do want you to do the things that make you happy. But you can't just think about yourself now, you need to think about what's best for the babies. Sometimes they're gonna need you to be responsible Mum instead of fun Mum. And I know you can do that. It's just hard on me when I have to remind you all the time. I get enough pressure on me every day without having to worry about you doing something dangerous or stupid or just not thinking about the consequences."

She'd been absolutely certain Marceline was asleep, or she'd never have opened her mouth. Bonnie realised far too late that she wasn't the only one who could lie still and quiet when they didn't want their partner to know they were awake.

"I know, babe. I am trying. Just, sometimes I struggle with remembering that I'm not nineteen anymore and I can't just do what I want. I blame the parents, I'll be sure to tell Simon so when I see him tomorrow."

"Today. It's like, five in the morning already."

Marcy rolled over and pressed their lips together sleepily then snuggled into her girlfriend's arms with a contented sigh.

"I don't like it when you just disappear off to bed and I know you're angry with me. I miss my goodnight kisses and it's hard to fall asleep if you're not holding me." she murmured, half asleep again already.

"You know, for a punk rocker you're a total cuddle-slut." Bonnie replied, resting her head lovingly against her girlfriend's hair.

"Mm, you're very huggable. G'night, babe." Marcy replied quietly.

"It's morning already."

"Still dark. S'night."

"Pedant."

"Nerd."

That was something else Bonnie loved about her girlfriend that also drove her crazy sometimes. Marcy had to have the last word no matter what was happening, even if she was halfway unconscious. But she was warm and sleepy, finally with her arms full of girlfriend and feeling a lot more secure than she had when she'd gone to bed. Bonnie closed her eyes again and inhaled the comforting scent of her partner's hair, drifting into confusing dreams about their pirate ship full of tie-dyed rescue cats in homemade hemp bank robber masks.

...

Wednesday afternoons were often quiet for Marceline and she considered that to be one of the best things about her job, that and the fact that the university were paying her a very comfortable wage to talk about her passion for music all day. It wasn't a bad job, all things considered. It certainly beat working in the sandwich shop she'd had a weekend job in when she was an undergrad, too proud to ask her father for any money when she was struggling. Of course he'd found out anyway and bought her an apartment; turned out her pride didn't extend to refusing a free place to live. She'd done pretty well on the parent front anyway, apart from losing her mother, Marcy thought to herself as she parked her car outside Simon and Betty's gorgeous little stone cottage. It was like something from a movie, she'd always imagined hobbits would live in a house like that. It was a crooked old fashioned cottage built from huge round river stones and Betty kept a wonderful cut flower and herb garden in small terraces that lead down to a little orchard and duck pond in the back garden. Beyond that was a hedge that was full of honeysuckle and sweet pea in the summer and overlooked a small patch of woodland where Marcy had been certain that fairies lived when she was little. She'd spent many happy hours there as a child sitting up in the branches of the tall beech trees reading her books or playing her guitar, she'd been pretty lucky to have such an amazing foster home.

"Hello darling, you're early." Simon greeted her at the front door. "Betty's still got the cake in the oven, you'll have to make do with just me for now. And how are our two precious little darlings doing today, hm? Are you both being good for you Mum?"

He bent down and addressed her stomach, grinning proudly from ear to ear.

"They're just fine, Simon. Growing like a pair of weeds and apparently hungry all the time. I'm heartbroken to hear that the cake isn't ready yet though." Marcy replied with an answering grin, pulling her foster father into a hug. She was getting on very well with Hunson these days but she'd never have the kind of relaxed closeness with him that she had with Simon. When she'd been a child Betty had worked and Simon had stayed home with her, he always said it was because of his health but Marcy suspected he just loved being a stay home Dad. He'd been very good at it too, they'd only recently and very reluctantly stopped fostering children to enjoy their retirement together.

"Betty, our daughter's here!" Simon called to the kitchen, helping Marcy out of her jacket and ushering her through to the lounge.

"Tell her about the boxes!" Betty's voice floated through from the kitchen.

"Oh! We found some boxes of your things in the attic, I thought perhaps you'd like to go through them later? A lot of it came to us when you did and I don't think you even looked at half of it, the tape holding the boxes shut looks ancient. I thought they were probably toys and things, stuff you didn't really want when you first came here." Simon added gently.

Yeah, there'd been a lot of stuff that her father had sent with her that Marceline just hadn't wanted to look at. She'd still been traumatized from losing her mother and Betty had taken her shopping, allowed her to get anything she wanted to make her new bedroom feel like home. Too much stuff from the house she'd shared with her birth parents had been upsetting for her so a lot of the boxes had gone into the attic and apparently just stayed there for more than twenty years. Well she was an adult now, it seemed ridiculous not to at least look at those things.

"Sure, I'll have a look at them. Thanks, Simon." Marcy replied. "How are you both? How's the new kitchen working out?"

They chatted for most of the afternoon about mundane family stuff, who they knew in the village who'd gotten married recently, the little old lady who lived by the post office had finally gone into a nursing home, people Marcy had gone to school with when she was very small and what they were doing now. The cake Betty had made was absolutely divine which was no real surprise to Marceline, her foster mother had always been something of a domestic goddess. By the time five o'clock rolled around Simon stretched and stood up from the sofa.

"Well, better go walk his Evilness. He still hasn't forgiven me for leaving him with Giuseppe while we were away this summer, you know."

He whistled and after a moment a loud thumping down the stairs announced that either a herd of elephants had just woken up and were stampeding their way down towards them or one very clumsy old collie dog. He stopped in the doorway to the lounge and snarled when he saw Marceline, ears flat back against his head.

"Gunther, be nice. Marcy's family." Simon admonished the dog. He whined in reply and eyed her warily but stopped growling at least.

"You're an evil old bastard, Gunther." Marcy told him playfully. "Don't you recognise me? Or can you smell Cinnamon and Peppermint on me? I bet he's feeling betrayed that I live with cats these days."

"Will you join us, sweetheart?" Betty asked.

"Nah, I don't feel like marching around in the gloom out there, I'll check out those boxes and see if there's anything I want to keep. Then I'd better get home, Bon'll be sitting in the dark wondering how to make herself a sandwich if I don't get back before she does. Sometimes I wonder how she managed to survive her student doctor years without dying of malnutrition."

"She and Simon could have a competition to see who's the worst cook." Betty replied with a smile.

"Bonnie'd win. I've seen Simon open a can of chicken soup without flooding the kitchen before, definitely Bonnie's the worse chef. You'd think she'd be good at it because it's basically just food science but nope, she's terrible. One time she tried to make me fried rice but she didn't realise you've gotta boil the rice first, it was just dry rice fried in oil. Ruined my best wok too, she's adorably hopeless at cooking." Marcy said.

"Are we taking this evil dog out or are you two standing there making fun of your poor hard working partners and their awful kitchen skills?" Simon called through from the hall.

"I'll be right through, love." Betty called back. "Marcy, are you sure you're ok looking at those boxes alone? I don't want you to find anything that might upset you." she added worriedly.

"Honestly, I'm fine. If I can't handle it twenty two years after losing her then when will I ever be able to look at that stuff? Besides it's stuff Daddy thought I'd want, probably just little fancy party dresses and old toys anyway. Go on, I'll still be here when you get back. Bonnie's home late tonight, she's got some sort of important doctor meeting to deal with. Something about a patient staying with them instead of getting transferred somewhere. I didn't get all the details."

"Well, if you're sure." Betty replied reluctantly. She followed her husband out into the hall and Marceline watched them both out of sight before turning back to the staircase and making her way up to her childhood bedroom.

It was exactly how Marcy remembered it, sloping wooden ceiling and lopsided out of date rock posters plastered everywhere. She opened the wardrobe with a nostalgic grin and discovered half of her awkward teenage clothes were still there. She'd always meant to go through those things but it was shamefully nice to know that however long she kept her stuff there it was always waiting for her. Hunson had sold the house she'd grown up in after her mother died and she'd always been very aware that when she stayed with him she was in the guest bedroom, not her own room. But the room she'd had at Simon and Betty's house was _hers_. They'd even let her paint the walls black and red when she'd gone through her goth phase, the window was still hung with the stained glass wind chime collection she'd added to whenever they went on holiday. It was safe, it was home. If she curled up on the bed and closed her eyes she could still hear Simon's voice reading the Chronicles of Narnia to her, their nighttime ritual since the very first week she'd lived there. In fact her Narnia books were still right there on the book shelf, battered and extremely well loved but still just waiting for their owner to open the cover and spend the afternoon lost between their pages. For a few minutes Marceline sat on the edge of the bed and soaked in the atmosphere of her childhood bedroom, lost in memories of the many happy years she'd spent there. But the pile of boxes in the corner tugged at her curiosity and eventually she couldn't resist investigating them.

Simon was right, they looked like they hadn't been touched since Hunson had packed them when she was seven. The first one contained a selection of tiny clothes, some winter leggings and sweaters and the beautiful hand-dyed silk sari her great aunt in Mumbai had sent for her. Marceline had never met that particular great aunt but she'd been absolutely smitten with the sari when she'd received it. It was almost too beautiful to wear, all swirling greens and blues with silver embroidery on the edges. Her mother had dressed her in it and taken photos to send back to her family in India, they'd all agreed that she looked like an Indian princess. She hadn't thought about that sari in years; with a jolt Marceline realised she had no idea what had happened to her great aunt or if the old lady was still alive. She didn't even know her name just that she'd been her grandmother's younger sister. Well one day when her daughter was old enough Marcy would show her the sari and if she wanted she could be an Indian princess too. She put it to one side to take home with her.

The next box was full of toys; a collection of dolls she'd never really cared for and stuffed animals, her tea set and make believe kitchen, a dolls house she'd never had the patience to properly play with and a set of fire engines and police cars. She'd loved those, they'd been her favourite. They went next to the sari; they were definitely coming home for the twins when they were old enough.

The last box was really what did it. Inside was a small library of children's books, some of them long forgotten, and a photo album. The books were brightly coloured picture books for much younger children; a few of them contained traditional Indian myths and stories. Marcy hadn't really appreciated when she was younger how hard her mother must have tried to raise her with a sense of the culture half her family were from. It was something that she'd mostly lost along the way and that was a real shame; Marceline resolved to learn more about her mother's culture and raise her twins to know about it too, so that they could feel connected to the grandmother they'd never know.

Looking through the photo album felt a lot like getting kicked in the stomach over and over. The first picture was her parents when they'd been young, dressed up to go out partying and so obviously in love from the way they were smiling at each other. After that came a photo of their wedding day. Marcy wondered who all the guests were, who the round faced best-man was, if she'd ever have the courage to show the album to her father and ask about it. Probably not, she decided. Her mother smiled back a little shyly from the photograph, radiant on her father's arm in a beautiful white gown. Marceline hadn't ever forgotten her mother's face but she was struck now by how alike they looked, how much that must twist up her father's heart with a strange mix of pride, love and regret every time he thought of it. Had that been why he'd sent her away, Marcy wondered? Not just because he couldn't cope with his own grief and with hers but because she looked too much like the wife he'd loved to distraction who had eventually broken his heart? She was never going to ask him, that was certain. Marceline and Hunson didn't have the sort of relationship where she could ask him questions about the past. If he brought it up that was fine, they'd talk about it. But she didn't talk to him about her mother, she couldn't stand to see how his eyes grew hard with old pain over the way she'd left him to die alone.

The next photograph was harder than ever to look at. It was her mother sitting in the garden of their old house surrounded by daffodils and spring flowers with her hand resting lovingly on a very pregnant stomach. It couldn't have been long at all before she'd given birth to her daughter, Marcy always loved that the daffodils were just coming into bloom for her birthday, like nature was celebrating with her. And next to that picture was a tiny reddish baby lying on her father's chest, tufty black hair still damp and eyes screwed up tight against the light that was brighter than anything she'd known up to that point. She was less than an hour old in that photograph, her mother was lying exhausted but overjoyed in the bed next to her father's chair and both of their eyes were red rimmed; they'd obviously been crying over their newborn baby daughter. The emotions that were always so close to the surface these days swirled up through her chest and before she could stop it Marcy was crying too, crying for the joyful couple and their new child in the photograph because so much heart break would happen to them only a few short years later.

The sound of the front door closing and Gunther's excited barking had her hurriedly closing the photograph album and putting it with the rest of the things that she was taking home.

"Marcy?" Betty's voice floated up the stairs to her.

"Up here." she replied in what she hoped was a normal voice. No such luck; a minute later her foster mother's head appeared around the bedroom door and Betty was peering at her worriedly.

"Oh sweetheart, come here. I was worried you'd get upset." Betty murmured, hurrying forward to wrap Marcy in a hug.

"I just miss her so much." Marcy sniffed back, resting her head on Betty's shoulder and giving in to the urge to wrap her arms around the older woman's neck like she was still a small child.

"I know you do, sweetie. It's perfectly normal to miss your mother especially now that you've got babies of your own on the way. But you know me and Simon are always here for you, don't you? We love you like you were our own."

"Do you think she'd approve?" Marcy asked quietly.

"Of you being pregnant? I never met your mother but I'm certain she'd be overjoyed for you, I can't imagine that the woman you told me about over the years would ever be anything but completely wonderful and supportive of you." Betty soothed, running her hand comfortingly up and down Marcy's back. "Do you remember when you were just about thirteen and I wouldn't let you shave your head and drop out of school to follow your favourite band on tour?"

Marcy laughed despite herself; it had been a pretty magnificently huge argument that was only ever going to go one way.

"I screamed that I hated you and you couldn't tell me what to do because you weren't my real Mum. And you cried and I didn't know why." Marcy replied quietly. "I'm so sorry, Betty. I understand now."

"When the doctors told me that I'd never have children of my own it felt like my heart was being crushed. And Simon, bless him, he was there every step of the way, even on the days I felt so low I could barely lift my arms. But you, darling, you were our daughter from the day you stepped out of the social worker's car, all tiny and shy and so lost and alone. I never regretted being unable to be pregnant after that, not for one second. Because if we'd conceived naturally we'd never have known you. And you were the best daughter Simon and I could ever imagine, even when you hated me for making you stay in school. So I can say with absolute certainty, from one mother talking about another, that she'd have been nothing but bursting with pride and love for you. Because that's all we are, sweetheart. So proud of you and happy for you. You may not have grown in my stomach but you grew in my heart instead."

Marcy cried harder but they were mostly happy tears, resting her head on her mother's shoulder and missing her other mother. She was so lucky to have such wonderful parents.


	17. Week 17

**This is a slightly longer chapter than usual, because it's a pivotal point in this section of the story and ties up a few plot points I've been working on. It's a darker one than most but important for the plot.**

 **Thank you so much to everyone who sent reviews or followed/favourited up to this point, you guys make my day. Even thank you to my lurkers, you guys are awesome too ^^**

 **Content Warning: injury, character death, manipulation, confrontation, general douchery.**

* * *

Maybe it wasn't completely the worst day of Bonnie's entire life up to that point, but it certainly made her top ten.

 _WHAM!_

Leather on leather, her fist in a boxing glove slamming into the punch bag over and over. It was rhythmic, not really calming but it allowed her to bring a kind of ordered fury to her thoughts rather than the chaos that had boiled through her brain before she'd managed to escape to the gym. Her old pendant hung heavy and accusatory around her neck, bouncing against her chest every time she jumped to kick the punch bag. When had she last practised her kick boxing? It must have been years, she'd given it up after she'd started working full time, hadn't been able to fit it in between her job and her girlfriend and trying to decide what specialization to take on. That had been a mistake, Bonnie reflected. She should have kept practising; she was horribly out of shape and her kicks were weak and sloppy. If someone attacked her now she might not be able to fight them off and that was a chilling thought. She wanted to stop thinking about earlier but her traitorous brain kept running through it over and over.

 _"Package for you, Dr Sugar. Mysterious, hand written address. Were you expecting something?"_

 _She looked up at Lydia's voice and frowned at the small cardboard box with her name written on the label. The handwriting was familiar but she couldn't place it, she was only sure she hadn't seen it in a long time. The box wasn't heavy and a careful shake didn't reveal any tell-tale sounds. She pulled the tape off curiously and out slid a very familiar item, carefully enclosed in bubble wrap. She opened it with hands that resolutely did not shake and looked down at her grandmother's pendant for the first time in ten years._

 _"Someone sent you a necklace? Weird." Lydia said, looking over her shoulder._

 _"Someone borrowed it. A while ago. And now she's apparently decided to return it." Bonnie replied distantly._

 _"Huh. Wish my friends would return the stuff they borrowed from me. I feel like a lending library for clothes and stuff sometimes." Lydia shrugged and wandered out of Bonnie's office, closing the door as she went. Bonnie waited until she heard the receptionist's footsteps disappear down the hall before she slipped a hand into the box and pulled out the note she knew would be there._

 _'Call me. I owe you an apology.'_

 _There was a number underneath, no signature but she knew who'd sent it the moment she'd seen the pendant. So Shoko had pulled her professional records and found out her direct postal address at work? She could report the other woman for breach of confidentiality but then she'd have to explain the whole thing to senior management and she'd rather not have to relive all of the unpleasantness of her breakup with her ex in front of her employers. She was due a break anyway; cautiously she slid her mobile out of her bag and dialled the number from the note. A voice she could have happily never heard again answered._

 _"Hello, Bonnibel. Still insatiably curious."_

 _"And you're still an overly dramatic prick. What do you want, Sho?"_

 _"Woah, chill out. I just wanna talk. Face to face. I've done a lot of thinking and I have a few things I want to tell you. Are you free to meet up?"_

 _Bonnie hesitated. But what harm could it do just to see what the other woman had to say? It had been ten years since they'd done anything but snarl at each other; she was an adult happily settled in a loving long term relationship and she was absolutely certain there was nothing Shoko could say to change that._

 _"Fine. You can have ten minutes. Where are you?"_

 _"I'm in the cafeteria downstairs. Lovely hospital you have here, very clean. I like it, might see if they have any vacant positions. Come meet me before your camomile tea gets cold."_

 _The line disconnected and Bonnie swore loudly. Fuck Shoko and her stupid head games, fuck her manipulative bullshit and her amateur dramatics. But despite herself she left her office and made for the lifts at the end of the corridor, heading down to the basement cafeteria where apparently her ex-girlfriend had remembered that she always took herbal tea through the day to stay hydrated and avoid caffeine crashes. Bonnie was certain Shoko had only remembered out of some kind of passive aggressive malice, though._

 _Five minutes more and she was scanning the cafeteria for the familiar face, scowling in recognition when Shoko spotted her and waved cheerfully._

 _"Hello, Princess." the dark haired woman greeted her as Bonnie reluctantly took a seat opposite at the cheap plastic table. She frowned harder at the ancient nickname; she hadn't been Shoko's Princess in a very long time and had almost managed to forget about it entirely._

 _"What do you want?" Bonnie growled instead, ignoring the mug of herbal tea Sho slid across to her._

 _"Aggressive much? You always were pretty dominant, I liked it. Still do. Just listen, ok? I wanted to say sorry for fucking stuff up and this was the only way I could think of doing it. Before you end up elbow deep in baby shit with some undeserving moron I need to tell you how I feel. Let's face it, we both know you like your women mixed and brunette and a bit unpredictable. That music dork you shacked up with isn't in your league, not even as a bad substitute for me. Bonnibel, I've spent the last ten years regretting running away. I ended up all over the world trying to get you outta my head. And it didn't work. So I'm back, swallowing my pride and begging you for a second chance. Because, fuck it, I still love you. I tried to tell myself I didn't, tried not to have feelings. Thought I was too good for loving anyone. But I've changed, Bonnibel. Lost some innocence and stupidity, gained some perspective. Lost a couple of other things too."_

 _Shoko held up her arm and Bonnie sucked in a shocked breath despite herself. It ended in a scarred stump halfway down her forearm, still angry and red like the wound was recent._

 _"Landmine in Cambodia. I signed up with Medecins Sans Frontieres right after graduation." Shoko shrugged nonchalantly, like having her arm blown off was no big deal._

 _"I remember. You cornered me at our grad ball to brag about it." Bonnie replied with a scowl. So Shoko had been injured, that was awful but it didn't change that she was a manipulative, arrogant, thieving bitch._

 _"That was one hell of a party. I remember watching you come over all action hero and save some girl's life with an adrenaline shot when she collapsed with anaphylaxis. You're never hotter than when you're right in the thick of it, Princess. You'd have fucking loved MSF, you should've come with me. I thought I was too good to beg you, I should've begged."_

 _Bonnie avoided Shoko's eyes and took a second to run it all through her head before she formulated a reply. She wanted to get everything she had to say out in one go because the thought of having to have more than one conversation with her ex about it turned her stomach._

 _"Let me get this straight. You got your arm blown off, MSF didn't want you anymore because you were too much of an insurance risk so you got shipped back to England. And once you got here you realised you didn't know anyone anymore and your professional career was in tatters. You probably already tried everyone you could think of from your student days but there aren't a lot of places that can employ a one armed surgeon. So you looked me up, somehow found out my partner was pregnant and thought perhaps you'd try to exploit our previous relationship when I was likely to be emotionally vulnerable. And you returned the necklace you stole into the bargain, to try and prove how sorry you are and how much you've changed. You want me to leave my pregnant girlfriend, the girlfriend who has been loyally by my side for eight years, is carrying our unborn twins and whom I have a deeply fulfilling loving relationship with, so I can be your plaything again until you get bored with me? Thing is, Sho, you didn't love me ten years ago and you don't love me now. How could you? You don't even know me. Perhaps you knew who I was ten years ago, but I grew up. I suggest you give it a try."_

 _"What does she have that I don't?" Shoko pressed, frowning heavily. She didn't handle rejection well, Bonnie hadn't forgotten._

 _"Marceline? Well she's not a thieving creep, for_ _a start. She doesn't treat me like an accessory the way you did. If I had to sum it up I'd say that she treats me like I'm a person. You treated me like I was your trophy. She makes me laugh. She's kind and fun, she takes the time to connect with me and she always gets me. And I love her. She made me realise that whatever I had with you, it wasn't love. Teenage infatuation perhaps, but never love. So to answer your question, what she has that you don't is me. And that isn't about to change."_

 _Bonnie was about to stand up and walk away when her pager beeped in her pocket and she pulled it out with a frown. It was only for the very worst emergencies, something terrible must be happening for her to get a message on it._

 _"Your perfect girlfriend checking up on you?" Shoko asked with a smirk. Bonnie's face blanched as she read the message._

 _"Please just leave and never contact me again, Shoko. I have an emergency to attend to."_

 _And with that Bonnie pushed herself up from the table and sprinted from the room._

Every time her fist slammed into the punch bag she imagined it was Shoko's stupid smirking face she was breaking instead. Bonnie would never have raised a hand against anyone except in self-defence but that didn't stop her savagely picturing it as her arms burned with the effort. Anything to keep from thinking about what had happened next.

 _"CLEAR!"_

 _"Pushing twenty micrograms epinephrine!"_

 _"Increasing the voltage, charging. Second shock. CLEAR!"_

 _Bonnie skidded to a halt at the door of the ward, feeling like perhaps her heart had stopped too. There was Erin, lying in her bed with nurses and doctors crowded around her, a crash cart and hastily thrown up screen shielding the other children on the ward from the trauma of seeing what was happening to her. But they could hear it, everyone could hear everything._

 _"Push the adrenaline again! Third shock, charging. CLEAR!"_

 _The little girl's whole tiny body convulsed as the shock ran through her and from the doorway Bonnie couldn't see if the heart monitor was showing a pulse yet. She dug her fingernails into her palms and held her breath against the surging panic. There was nothing she could do, King was already assisting the team that had rushed up from resus and another pair of hands trying to interfere would just be in the way. So Bonnie stood helplessly at the door of the ward while the world spun in horror around her and her favourite patient lay dying in her hospital bed._

 _"Still flatline, BP is a negative. Sats below forty and still dropping. She's gone, I'm calling it. Time of death, fourteen twenty. Someone should let Sugar know."_

 _"Already paged her, she's right outside."_

 _They told her afterwards that Erin had gone into another fit and this time it hadn't responded to emergency medication. They'd tried the maximum dose of everything that could be used to end the fit. Instead she'd gone into cardiac arrest and they hadn't been able to bring her back. Half an hour later Bonnie was sitting numbly with the resus supervisor and explaining the same thing as gently as she could to Erin's sobbing parents._

 _"Go home, Sugar. Take tomorrow off. We'll clear it all with admin." the resus supervisor had told her gently once the conference was over and the parents had been escorted to the morgue. It was no secret that she'd been emotionally attached to the little girl and one glance at her face would be enough to see how heartbroken she was._

Bonnie didn't go home. She went to her office and stared at the photographs on her wall again, stared at the picture of herself eight years previously in graduation robes beaming up at the camera, innocently anticipating the adventures to come. She thought about calling her mother again but she didn't know what to say and didn't want to worry her. Going home meant explaining to Marcy why she was back in the middle of the afternoon, why she was wearing a necklace she hadn't been wearing that morning, why she was so tense she felt like she would snap. And Marceline hated to hear about the details of Bonnie's work, especially that she'd chosen to specialise in cancer. When she was already so sensitive because of her pregnancy Bonnie couldn't bring herself to hurt her partner like that or ask her for more support than Marcy could give right now.

So instead Bonnie eventually pushed herself up from her office desk and went to the gym to take all out on a punch bag the same way she had when she'd been a student and the pressure had gotten too overwhelming. By the time she was ready to drop from exhaustion she wasn't sure what was sweat and what were tears running down her face. The few other people who'd been using the punch bags that afternoon had all left after she'd arrived; Bonnie was too furious and hurt to care whether she'd scared them off or not.

"Um, hey, miss? We're closing now."

She looked around; the spotty teenage boy who'd checked her in on the front desk was hovering nervously by the edge of the gym mat. With a jolt of horror Bonnie realised it was past seven in the evening already and she'd been there for hours. Oh God, Marcy had probably already called the police to report her missing. Bonnie pulled the boxing gloves off and bundled them into the boy's unresisting arms before sprinting as fast as her exhausted legs would allow back along the corridor to the changing room. She cringed when she wrenched the door of her rented locker open and grabbed her phone; a record eleven missed calls, seven voicemails and fourteen text messages from Marceline panicking about where she was. She dialled her girlfriend as she grabbed her bag and hurried out the door still in her gym kit, rehearsing her most heartfelt apology while the line rang.

...

Worry was a strange thing, Marceline reflected as Bonnie's car pulled onto the drive. For example, it was unstable. It could change from crippling fear to towering anger in seconds when offered pathetic excuses like 'I lost track of time at the gym'. But Bonnie had apologised, had sounded genuinely distraught when she realised how sick with worry she'd made her partner. So Marcy was willing to overlook it, provided Bonnie was going to be a perfect girlfriend for the rest of the night. She wrinkled her nose when the front door opened though; hard to overlook the smell of exercise sweat.

"Showers broken at the gym?" she asked as Bonnie slouched through the door.

"Skipped the shower, got home as fast as I could. Sorry."

There was something more than just muscle ache in Bonnie's posture as she dragged herself up the stairs to the bathroom but Marceline hadn't quite been able to catch her eye and wasn't completely certain what it could be. She shrugged and turned back down the hall to the lounge; Bonnie knew where she was if she wanted to talk and besides Marcy was still annoyed with her for disappearing like that so she wasn't going to push it right now. Thirty minutes later an icy cold voice in the doorway drew her attention from the article she'd been browsing on her laptop.

"What the _fuck_ is this and why was it hidden behind the orchid in the bathroom?"

 _Oh shitting fuck monkeys_. Bonnie was standing in the doorway with her hair wrapped in a towel and a face like thunder, holding out a round pebble of jasper in the palm of her hand. Marcy had meant to move it weeks ago when she packed up the rest of the crystals but she must have forgotten it was there.

"Babe, I can explain-"

"Magic fucking rocks? Are you fucking kidding me? How much of a moron are you?"

And after that the whole argument just turned into a horrifying blur or screaming and fury; it was about everything and anything without any obvious break or rest point. It started with how Marceline was the stupidest person ever born for believing in healing crystals and morphed into how Bonnie might as well just move out and go live in her stupid office since she spent every waking second either there or wishing she was.

"I don't even know who you are anymore half the fucking time! You're so moody and hormonal and every fucking time I try to talk to you about it-"

"I'M FUCKING PREGNANT WITH THE BABIES YOU SAID YOU WANTED!" Marcy screamed back, almost insensible with rage.

"AND ARE YOU GONNA TEACH THEM TO USE MAGIC AND SUPERSTITION INSTEAD OF THEIR FUCKING BRAINS TOO? ARE YOU GONNA RAISE THEM TO BELIEVE IN THE SAME BULLSHIT YOUR MOTHER TAUGHT YOU?"

"Just, just get out of my way!"

No, that was _way_ too much. With angry, hurt tears prickling the corners of her eyes Marcy shoved her way past Bonnie and up to the stairs, intending to pack an overnight bag and give her partner some space to cool down before they tried to talk more. But of course Bonnie couldn't let her go without a parting shot.

"Oh yeah, run away like you always do! Run back to Daddy because he did such a magnificent job of looking after you the first time around!" Bonnie yelled.

Marceline froze, halfway up the staircase, and turned slowly and dangerously.

"You leave my father out of this. Leave my whole family out of it. This is about you and your God complex, always having to control every tiny thing about everyone around you, never able to accept there might be something you don't know and can't explain. Because you always thought I was pretty stupid, always thought I wasn't quite clever enough for you, didn't you?" Marceline snarled, fury forcing a couple of tears out with her words.

"You want to talk about being intelligent, using your fucking brain? Think about this, genius. If your father really gave a shit about you why did he ship you off literally anywhere else in the world but where he was after you mother died? If your magic healing rocks actually worked then why did your mother die anyway? It's all just bullshit and you're stupid enough to still believe it and you're gonna rot our children's brains with that crap too!"

It was like the words just spilled out past her lips against her will. Bonnie knew before she even opened her mouth that it was way too far, that she absolutely must never bring up Marceline's dead mother or their conflicting beliefs. But she couldn't quite stop herself when she was already at breaking point and then those traitorous words were tumbling out of her mouth and she was watching the woman she loved more than life itself reel like she'd been slapped, stumble back down the stairs and right out the front door without even getting her toothbrush first. Marceline only stopped for half a second to grab the keys to her car before the door was slamming shut behind her and Bonnie was alone, rooted to the spot in growing horror with an awful ringing in her ears. No, _no_ , what had she done? Why had she said that? Too late, she could hear a motor revving angrily and a second later tyres squealed as the car reversed too fast from the drive and then disappeared up the street. Bonnie sunk to the floor in the hall and stopped trying to keep the heartbroken tears from overwhelming her.

...

Three streets away Marceline pulled over and rested her head on the steering wheel, too shocked to drive further until she had a moment to figure out what the fuck had just happened. There was a line and Bonnie hadn't just crossed it. She'd gone so far over it she couldn't even see the line in the distance. Some things were just unforgivable to say, no matter the circumstance. And bringing her dead mother into it was pretty damn unforgivable, in Marceline's book. She shook her head; something was up with Bonnie but she wasn't about to just sit there and take whatever abuse the other woman handed out because she was in a mood. Perhaps, in the past, but Marcy had two new top priorities to think about. She slid her hand down to her bump protectively; she'd left more for the babies than herself. Because they didn't need the very first thing their newly developed ears heard to be their mothers screaming terrible things at each other. No, she had to be responsible, had to take them out of that situation. Perhaps she was stupid but she knew enough to leave. No matter how badly she wanted to stay and scream at Bonnie some more.

With a long sigh Marceline wiped her eyes again and started the car, pulling away and driving as quickly as she dared to her father's house. The lights were on; good, he was home. Marcy let herself in through the back door and slouched through the conservatory into the dimly lit kitchen.

"Daddy? Can I come stay tonight? I had a fight with Bonnie and- and... um, who the fuck are you?"

There was an older woman in a loosely tied silk kimono standing in her father's kitchen smoking a fragrant cigarette, clearly wearing nothing else underneath.

"Oh, you must be Marceline! Hunson's told me all about you." the woman beamed, lined face splitting into a wide grin.

"And weirdly he's told me nothing about you. Who are you?" Marceline repeated, staring at the stranger.

"I'm Theresa, Theresa Trunks. But you can call me TT. Your father didn't tell you he was seeing anyone?"

No, her father hadn't told her he was seeing anyone. Ever. In all the years since her mother had died Hunson hadn't even made eye contact with another woman so far as his daughter knew. And on top of everything else it was more than she could process.

"No, sorry. Not tonight. I can't do this tonight. Tell him I said hi, and I'll call him tomorrow." Marcy muttered, turning on her heel and striding back out of the house. She didn't think about where she'd go even when she was back behind the wheel, driving without even stopping to consider her destination. Finn was working, she'd rather cut her own arms off than go home, Simon and Betty lived miles out in the country and Keila most likely had company-

It wasn't really a surprise to Marceline when numb instinct made her pull up in front of Jake and Lady's beautiful little cottage. The kids would be asleep but hopefully their parents were still up. Marcy sent a quick text to Jake, not wanting to knock on the door and risk waking her godchildren.

A minute later the front door opened and Jake came hurrying out to her car.

"What happened? Ah crap, come inside, of course we'll put you up for the night. You wanna stay up drinking non-alcoholic white wine substitute and talking smack about Bonnie?" he asked with a crooked smile. Marcy wrapped her oldest friend into a hug and sniffed back more tears; Jake was one of the best people she knew.

"Honestly? I just wanna curl up and cry, or get really drunk. But drinking is completely out of the question so it's gonna have to be the crying thing. Jake, she said such horrible things. She told me I was stupid and basically said my mother was stupid too and it was her own fault she died. I can't even think about talking to her without wanting to slap her right now."

"I know, Bonnie can be a total bitch sometimes. I mean most of the time she's lovely but we both know what she's like when she explodes. Come on, I'll make you a hot chocolate and we'll pull out the sofa-bed."

Marcy followed Jake inside with a relieved sigh. At least she wouldn't have to sleep in her car.

...

"Your tummy's all big an' hard."

It was that and small fingers prodding her bump that woke Marcy the next morning. She opened her eyes to find Junior sitting cross legged next to her on Jake's sofa bed, feeling her stomach curiously.

"Mm, that's right JJ. I've got two little babies growing in there." Marceline replied around a yawn. Her eyes felt gritty and sore; she must have fallen asleep crying quietly into her pillow last night.

"Mummy had two babies."

"Yes, your little brother and sister. Are your parents awake yet, sweetheart?"

Junior shook her little head and poked a small finger up her nose, rooting around for a moment and pulling it out, holding it up for her godmother to inspect before she replied.

"Aunty Bonnie."

"No honey, I'm Aunty Marcy." she replied with a confused frown. But Junior shook her head again and pointed at the door leading through to the hall.

"Aunty Bonnie." she repeated.

"Oh, Aunty Bonnie's here to see me?" Marceline asked with a sinking heart. Junior nodded happily then got up and toddled over to the television, switching it on and plopping down in front of it to stare at her cartoons. Marceline resolutely didn't look around when someone significantly bigger and a lot less welcome than Junior sat on the empty stretch of sofa bed next to her. For a while there was no noise but the tinny shrieks and squeals of cartoon mice and Junior's little giggles. Then a hand Marceline would have known anywhere slipped into her own and despite her considerable lingering anger and hurt she squeezed back when the fingers tightened around her palm.

"I'm so sorry." Bonnie whispered after a minute. Marceline swallowed compulsively a couple of times before she trusted herself to answer.

"What happened yesterday?" she asked quietly, because she knew that something must have made Bonnie so hurt and upset that she'd lost control of her usually well hidden temper.

And then her partner was crying quietly and hugging her, telling her all about how that little girl with the brain tumour had died unexpectedly, how she'd had to tell the child's parents, how her crazy ex had stalked her at work and tried to manipulate her into taking her back. How Bonnie never felt like she could talk about the details of her job when she got home, how she'd spent the whole night crying and hating herself. How she was so stressed, all the time, she felt like she was only one more worry away from breaking completely. Finally she finished with;

"So I came to a decision. I've drafted a letter to the hospital administrators, I'm resigning my position as department head and requesting to just be a regular consultant on the oncology team. Part time, though. I've asked them to change my hours down to just three and a half days a week."

Marcy turned to look her girlfriend in the face, shocked. Bonnie was deadly serious, she could see that from the redhead's expression. She was paler than usual and her eyes were red and puffy; she looked like she hadn't slept all night.

"But your job is your life, you told me so yourself. It's a vocation for you." Marcy replied after a blank moment where she searched for something to say.

"Maybe it used to be. But I realised something last night. _You're_ my life, love. You and our babies. Our family. The three of you are my top priority."

"Even though I I'm stupid and I have stupid beliefs?" Marcy asked quietly, staring down at her hands.

"Marcy, I'm so sorry for what I said last night. I honestly don't believe that, I promise. You're not stupid and your beliefs aren't stupid. They're the things you believe in and it's wrong of me to disrespect that." Bonnie replied in a voice thick with guilt.

"But they are stupid. I thought about it, a lot, and you're right. If healing crystals worked Mum wouldn't have gotten sick. Or they'd be used in hospitals, or there'd be some scientific evidence. I guess I just felt more connected to my mother when I used them. It's stupid, it was so long ago. But I still miss her every single day, more than ever since I got pregnant. I just, I want to ask her about stuff. I want to tell her about the babies, about you and me, about the person I grew into. I want to know if she'd have approved of me. If she'd be proud of me."

Marcy looked down again when something warm splashed against her hand and realised she'd started crying without even realising it. Bonnie hugged her harder and she rested her head against her girlfriend's shoulder, too exhausted to fight it anymore or stay angry.

"It isn't stupid to miss your mother, sweetie. And it isn't stupid to want to feel connected to her. She'd have been so proud of you, how could she not? I don't need to have ever met her to know how much she must have loved you. You're the most wonderful person I know; if our daughter turns out even half as wonderful as you I'll be the proudest Mama in the world. Can you ever forgive me for the awful things I said?" Bonnie asked quietly. Marcy didn't even have to think about it, she hugged her partner back and tilted her face until their lips were gently brushing.

"Of course. How could you even doubt that? I don't know how to be me without you, you're like the half of myself I didn't know was missing until we met. I'm not sure where I end and you begin most of the time. Bon, I love you unconditionally. Even when you hurt me. But please don't jeopardize your whole career for me. Wait, think about it more. And right now please just lay down with me on this lumpy sofa-bed and sleep, you look totally exhausted."

"Only if you'll be little spoon."

"Deal. Now get your forgiven butt into bed."

They snuggled down under the blankets together and Marcy scooted forwards, pressing a long and very relieved kiss against her girlfriend's lips.

"I love you." she breathed quietly when they finally broke apart.

"I love you too. I really don't deserve you, but I love you more than anything in the world." Bonnie replied, still tearful and contrite. Marcy leaned in and kissed her gently again, trying to convey all the forgiveness she could without words, then rolled over onto her other side. Bonnie's arms immediately slipped around her and held her close, finally back where she belonged.

When Jake and Lady came downstairs an hour later it was to find Junior curled up asleep on the sofa-bed with her Aunty Marcy's arms wrapped around her, almost exactly the same way Bonnie's arms were wrapped around Marcy. Jake let out a quiet breath of relief, he was so happy they'd managed to work it out. No couple he knew was more perfect for each other than Bonnie and Marcy, they were the same kind of crazy. He gently lifted his daughter up from the sofa bed and tiptoed back upstairs to get her dressed for nursery, leaving his best friends to sleep peacefully together.


	18. Week 18

**Have you guys forgiven Bonnie for being a total bitch-queen last week? I hope so, she really was having a spectacularly awful day. Shoutout to the ever wonderful Schwarzeil for her assistance in proof reading, idea suggesting and generally first class all round musing.**

 **Another quick note! Because I was asked a question about it and I didn't know if you guys knew, but it's very healthy for pregnant women to have sex and keep their muscles in good shape ready to give birth. It's good for the baby too and it's something that most every pregnant couple do at least from time to time. So says my pregnant friend, anyway. And I suppose she'd know.**

 **If anyone can tell me why Erin's last name is Carle you get a (virtual) hug. The poem is called 'Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep' and it was read out at a vigil for the victims of the Orlando Massacre that we attended, it's absolutely heartbreaking and beautiful.**

 **Content Warning: feels, funerals, late night comfort sex, implied naughtiness between old people and dogs in lingerie because plot. This is an odd chapter tbh.**

* * *

"You don't need to do this, babe."

"Yeah, I do. I really do."

"Are you gonna be ok?"

"I have no idea. I guess? But if I don't go then I know I'll regret it. Are you sure you wanna come too?"

Marcy paused, checking her hair in the mirror before replying.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I hate funerals but I wanna be there for you." she said quietly.

So they left the house together and drove through the freezing rain to the small church on the outskirts of the village Erin's family lived in. It was a pretty enough little place, it would have been picturesque under any other circumstances. The entire village had turned out for the funeral, all dressed in bright pink at the request of the little girl's mother. She hadn't wanted Erin's funeral to be any more depressing than it had to be so everyone was wearing the dead girl's favourite colour in her honour. Bonnie and Marcy took a seat at the back of the church and sat quietly listening to the gentle organ music as they waited for the family to arrive. Bonnie hadn't put any make up on, she knew she'd cry it off and make a mess of her face.

The music swelled and the congregation stood as the family arrived, carrying a small coffin between two pall-bearers. One was Erin's father, Bonnie had met him many times over the last five years. The other must have been her grandfather; he was identical to the younger man except for the obvious thirty years or so between them. Both were pale faced, red eyed and grief stricken. Erin's mother and older sister followed the coffin with tears already running down their cheeks. Between them they supported a frail old woman who seemed half crippled by her heartbreak. Marcy took Bonnie's hand and squeezed it gently, silently letting her know she was there for her. She hadn't quite forgiven herself for the awful realisation of how badly she'd been neglecting Bonnie's needs before their awful argument. She'd closed herself off, hadn't let herself think about the daily horrors Bonnie must see on the childhood cancer ward and told herself that her partner could deal with it because she was a doctor. Well no more, Marcy silently promised. No matter how upsetting it was she would be there to hear the details whenever her girlfriend needed to talk, she'd be supportive and open. Not just think about it or tell herself she'd work up to it. This time Marceline was going to be there for Bonnie no matter what.

"Please be seated." the vicar told them as Erin's coffin was placed gently at the front of the small aisle. "Today we are gathered to celebrate the life of Erin Shannon Carle, beloved daughter and sister to Kelly, Michelle and Peter. Erin's life was a short one but it was a life filled with love and precious memories. During her first year of life Erin was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia and spent a lot of time in specialist treatment units where she made friends and charmed every single person she came into contact with. I cannot begin to fathom how many lives Erin touched in such a sort time; although she was called home by the Lord when she was still young in years her legacy of love will live on in the hearts of all who knew her. Erin's father has selected a short poem he would like to be read out on behalf of the family;

 _ _Do not stand at my grave and weep.__

 _ _I am not there; I do not sleep.__

 _ _I am a thousand winds that blow.__

 _ _I am the diamond glints on snow.__

 _ _I am the sunlight on ripened grain.__

 _ _I am the gentle autumn rain.__

 _ _When you awaken in the morning's hush__

 _ _I am the swift uplifting rush__

 _ _Of quiet birds in circled flight.__

 _ _I am the soft star that shines at night.__

 _ _Do not stand at my grave and cry;__

 _ _I am not there; I did not die."__

As the words echoed around the packed church Marcy slipped back into memories; she was seven years old again and holding her father's hand as he shakily read the same poem at the memorial service they held for her mother. She hadn't really understood that her Mum was gone forever until she saw the tears roll silently from Hunson's cheeks and splash onto the ground at his feet and she pretended not to have seen, just stood there solemnly and squeezed his hand to offer what little comfort his daughter's solidarity in grief could offer. The next morning he'd still been sitting at the kitchen table like he had when she'd taken herself to bed the night before but the bottle of expensive whiskey he kept for special occasions was standing empty next to an overflowing ashtray by his elbow. That afternoon she'd gone for a ride with a lady who told her she was a social worker and when little Marcy got out of the car it was the first time she met Simon and Betty. She didn't understand what was happening, nobody had even told her what the words 'going into foster care' meant until Betty had gently explained it to her.

The congregation was standing and Marceline wrenched herself back to the present, squeezing Bonnie's hand again when she noticed the redhead was crying quietly. As the first swell of organ music grew and the assembled mourners took a collective breath to begin singing Marcy felt the babies shift around in her stomach again, more strongly than they'd moved before. Perhaps they could feel her sadness, her grief for the family of the little girl she'd never met but who had touched her partner's heart. And yes she was an atheist and it went against all of her beliefs but there was just no way that she would stand there surrounded by the child's family and not honour her with the song they had picked out to say goodbye with. Marceline opened her mouth and let the well known words flow out along with everyone else in the church.

 _ _"The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want;__

 _ _He makes me lie in pastures green.__

 _ _He leads me by the still, still waters,__

 _ _His goodness restores my soul."__

Bonnie was singing along quietly by her side, voice lost in the general hum of the congregation. But Marcy risked a glance over to her partner and Bonnie squeezed her hand again, not quite smiling but giving her a look that plainly conveyed her gratitude to Marceline for being there for her when something so awful had happened. As the hymn ended and they took their seats again Marcy felt another of her frequent stabs of guilt; she should have been there for Bonnie last week too. They'd both been very clingy in the days since, taking comfort in physical closeness and reassuring each other as often as they could. It had been one of their worst arguments for years and at the time Bonnie really thought that Marcy was leaving her and she knew that she completely deserved it. The realization had shaken her, together with the grief over Erin it had left her quiet and a little insecure in the week that followed. They'd both agreed to take each other less for granted. For that afternoon though all Marcy could do was hold Bonnie's hand and wipe away her tears, try not to even begin thinking about the gaping chasm of loss Erin's mother must be feeling to lay one of her children to rest. Suddenly a world of new fears for her twins had opened up too and there was no way Marcy could stop worrying over it.

...

She was half asleep, curled onto her side with hands pressed lovingly against her bump when she felt Bonnie's lips on the back of her neck and fingertips sliding warmly along her hips. They'd gone to bed early and Marcy had no idea what time it was now, she must have slept for a while at least. The bedroom was dark and there were no words, just a silent request for intimacy and after the emotional ordeal of the funeral Marcy couldn't bring herself to deny Bonnie anything that might bring her some peace. So she rolled over and pressed their lips together, letting her hands slide up Bonnie's shirt to the curves of her chest and elicit that same soft moan that she'd fallen in love with years before. No words, no romance or candles or anything at all between them except those soft touches and kisses. Just the two of them seeking comfort in each other, skin to skin in the darkness and doing things they'd done a thousand times before because there was so much relief in their physical intimacy as well as all the other feelings it created. So much love and trust; Marcy at least always felt like Bonnie was touching a part of her soul when they had sex, like they were joining on more than one level. She was well aware that it was a ridiculously mushy sentiment and her friends would mock her mercilessly if they knew what a big soft marshmallow she was in bed. But when she was alone with her partner she felt secure enough to be naked in a way that also exposed her soul and she knew distantly through the softly growing ache of need as talented fingers found her ready and willing that Bonnie felt the same. When Marcy's critical moment smoothly rolled through her she gasped and pulled Bonnie tight against her to bring as much of their skin in contact as possible, lips against her partner's shoulder and fingers flexing instinctively against the smooth length of her back. She needed the closeness, they both did. After the last aftershocks had faded and Bonnie had recovered from her own release they lay still silent together in the darkness, arms tight around each other and fingertips slowly retracing the curves of bodies long ago committed to memory.

"Do you think other couples still do this after eight years together?" Marcy finally whispered into Bonnie's hair.

"God, I hope so. I'd feel so sorry for them if they didn't." the redhead replied quietly.

"Can you imagine how it must feel to go to bed alone every single night and wake alone and not have anyone to hold you in your sleep though? I think it must be so lonely, like there's an empty space in your life. It must be awful, especially if you're alone for years. I love you so much more than I can really say with just words. Dunno what I'd do without you." Marcy murmured after a while.

"I'd never stopped to think about it much, I suppose it would be hard to go back to sleeping alone again. When you were touring I used to spoon your pillows and sleep in your shirt and I still felt like there was a cold hole in my heart sometimes when I woke up and remembered you were hundreds of miles away. You were thinking about your father being alone?" Bonnie asked gently. She knew Marcy well enough to be able to guess her thought patterns from disjointed murmurings.

"It was that obvious? Yeah. He has a new girlfriend. I forgot about it until today because of everything else that happened that horrible night. But I went to his place first, before I went to Jake's. I must have walked in on them just after because she was half naked and smoking and I guess he was in the shower or something. I'm so ashamed that my first thought was disgust. How many years has he been alone? And all I can think is that it's gross that he's getting naked with someone because he's so old now, or that it's somehow like he's been cheating on my mother. But she'd have wanted him to move on and be happy I think. If I died tomorrow I'd want you to have a long and happy life with someone who treated you like the wonder that you are. I'm trying so hard to be happy for him."

"Call him in the morning and we'll have dinner together. You can get to know her." Bonnie replied. "I can only imagine how weird it must be for you to go back through those memories from your childhood as an adult and see them through fresh eyes. But maybe it would be best if we just greeted this new girlfriend of his like she was anyone else and don't judge until we've gotten to know her a little better. It might not be serious, it could blow over in a few weeks."

"Yeah. It's just... I dunno, weird. Do you think she knows about Mum?" Marcy asked a little sleepily.

"Probably. She knows you're his daughter, right? So I'm gonna guess she probably knows that you didn't come into this world through a bud that grew on your father's head that one day blossomed into a baby. The biology of having children requires two people. I'd imagine they've probably had a conversation about it." Bonnie replied after a second's thought.

"Mm, you're so smart, babe. Sleeping now?"

"Yeah. Sleep well, sweetie."

"Love you."

...

By the time Sunday came Marceline was beginning to regret inviting her father and his girlfriend for dinner. Not because she was lacking confidence in the magnificent lamb roast she'd prepared courtesy of one of Jake's secret recipes, but because of their other unexpected guest. Finn was currently yelling at the TV from their sofa, watching some very tedious football match that he'd told some weak lie about not being able to get at home because his Sky box was broken. Under any other circumstances Marcy would have sat down and had a gentle talk with him about what was wrong because it was clearly something but she was already panicking about meeting her Dad's girlfriend. Luckily just as she was getting to the point of anxiety where she might have started throwing stuff at him Bonnie swept to the rescue like the superhero Marcy knew she secretly was.

"Hey, what's the score?" she asked, sliding onto the sofa next to Finn and handing him a beer.

"Three nil, West Ham are playing terribly." he replied with his eyes still glued to the screen. Bonnie shot her girlfriend a subtle smile and Marcy nodded, leaving them to it and going to rescue her mashed potatoes from being enthusiastically investigated by Peppermint who'd jumped onto the kitchen counter. She could hear their voices floating through from the lounge but was content to let Bonnie handle it.

"What did you expect? Chelsea haven't been on top form recently but they'll always pull out their A-game when it's a grudge match. How's Phoebe feel about you cheering for the enemy?" Bonnie asked carefully. Finn just shrugged. "I'm surprised she didn't wanna come see the game, she's a Chelsea fan, right?"

"We broke up." he replied distantly. "Oh, referee! That was a foul! C'mon, we deserve a penalty!"

"It's on the edge of the box, you're getting a free kick. Sucks to be a Hammers fan. Huh, shame. I thought the two of you were perfect together, what happened?"

"She was always working and we had a fight. Can we just watch the football?"

"What about?"

"My attitude. She said I was childish and never took anything she said seriously."

"She has a point, you're not the most serious of guys. You gonna apologise?"

"No. If she doesn't like me as I am then I don't wanna know her."

"She likes you very much. Finn, Phoebe was lovely. And you waited so long to get serious with her, don't throw it away over some stupid fight. I've known you for eight years, man I know when you're in love. It's half time soon; go buy flowers and take them to her place, tell her you're sorry and then tell her you're in love with her. You gotta let a girl get to know you sometime and Phoebe seems like a really good person to pick." Bonnie told him gently. Finn sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"You really think she'd take me back?" he asked quietly after a long pause.

"If you were genuinely sorry, yeah. I saw the way she looked at you the night you introduced us. Finn, a woman over the age of eighteen doesn't date a man and stay celibate for months waiting for him to feel ready unless she thinks he's a good long-term prospect. Go tell her how much you love her, it's gotta hurt less than sitting here watching Chelsea grind your team into meat paste."

Finn stood from the sofa and stretched, rolling his shoulders a little reluctantly.

"What would straight guys do without their lesbian friends? We'd die alone and probably think a clitoris was some kinda rare butterfly. I'd never have another date for the rest of my life." he told her seriously.

"Suck up. Go on, you're putting it off." Bonnie replied with an eye roll.

"Alright, I'm gone. Thanks, Bon. You're the best." Finn replied. He raised his voice a little to be better heard in the kitchen as he made for the hall. "Hey, I'll see you later, Marcy! Thanks for the offer of dinner but I'm gonna go talk to Phoebe. Say hi to your Dad from me!"

"Later, bro. Take it easy." she replied, sticking her head around the kitchen door to blow a kiss at his retreating back. Finn waved over his shoulder and pulled his motorcycle helmet on before heading out to fire up his bike.

"You are the best." Marcy murmured to Bonnie when she slouched onto the sofa next to her.

"I know. Plus now I get to finish Finn's beer." the redhead replied with a grin.

"He's right, he'd die alone in a pit of his own filth without us." Marcy observed. "Can we please put the football off? It makes me want to claw my eyes out with boredom."

Bonnie switched the TV off and was about to ask if there was anything she could help with when the doorbell rang and Marcy visibly tensed. Either it was an uninvited guest or her father had arrived. She struggled up off the sofa to answer the door; getting back to her feet after sitting was beginning to become just a little difficult and she'd already gone through all the maternity shirts she'd bought that day with Lady.

"Hello Pumpkin, your bump looks huge!" her father said by way of greeting when Marceline opened the door for him. "This is Theresa. TT, this is my daughter Marceline."

"Pleased to meet you. Come inside, the food's nearly ready." Marcy replied as she shook the older woman's hand. She tried not to think about where that hand might have been, it was too gross and weird to suddenly start thinking of her father being sexual after all his years alone. And he was wearing nicely pressed jeans and a cozy woollen sweater; Marcy tried not to stare. She hadn't seen her father in anything less formal than a shirt and tie in years, not since her mother was alive and he'd taken her swimming when they'd all gone on holiday. Marcy was plenty used to relaxed causal wear because Simon had always dressed like a geography teacher fallen on hard times, all second hand sweaters and shabby corduroys, but Hunson was never less than perfectly presented. His suits alone cost more than Marcy's monthly food budget; he must have gone out and bought the jeans and sweater specially for the occasion.

"Hello, I'm Marcy's partner, lovely to meet you." Bonnie said when they came into the lounge, standing and shaking Theresa's hand too.

"Oh, you must be Hunson's amazing doctor daughter-in-law! He's ever so proud of you." Theresa beamed, shaking Bonnie's hand vigorously and looking around the lounge with interest. "Such a lovely collection of artefacts you have here! Do you travel together?"

"When we get the chance. Do you like to travel?" Bonnie asked politely

"Oh, my dear ex husband and I travelled when we were younger but he had the temper of a pig, we never stayed in one place long. Always getting run out of town or arrested at protests, attacked by thugs of the opposition. I do miss our little adventures."

"Oh. Um, sounds like you've been a lot of places." Bonnie replied, nonplussed. Marceline avoided her girlfriend's eyes; she wasn't sure if she'd laugh or if her horror would show on her face. Meanwhile Theresa had shrugged out of the long camel hair coat she'd been wearing to reveal a colourful vintage dress bright enough to dazzle. If Marceline had had to describe the sort of woman her father would eventually end up dating a protesting hippie with rainbow coloured vintage clothing would have been the very last thing she'd have picked. But then her own mother had been something of a hippy too, perhaps he had a type. It was an uncomfortable thought.

"Dinner will be a minute, just sit at the table and I'll bring it through." Marcy muttered, heading to the kitchen and making sure she was out of earshot before she let out the long sigh she'd been holding in. She was stirring the gravy and pushing Cinnamon gently out of the way from where he'd been wrapped lovingly around her leg when an unwelcome voice interrupted her.

"Is there anything I can help with, dear? I feel like a banana just sitting there at the table when you're in here slaving away for us."

Who even said they felt like a banana? What did that even mean? Marcy bit back the confused questions before turning to her father's girlfriend and trying to stay polite.

"No, thank you. I've got it all under control. Is there anything in particular you'd like to drink with your meal?" she asked instead.

"Just water, I try to keep my body as pure as I can. I just wanted to say that it's very kind of you to invite us for dinner, I know this must be hard for you since you lost your mother and Lord knows Hunson talks about her often enough. I'm giving him as much time as he needs, poor man." Theresa replied with a sympathetic smile. No, that wasn't how the conversation was supposed to go and perhaps it was the pregnancy hormones but Marcy was suddenly quite annoyed by the older woman.

"I think it's supposed to be the other way around but since my father didn't even know I had a girlfriend until six months later he didn't get chance to say it. But if you hurt him I will __end__ you. Daddy might look tough and imposing on the outside but he has been badly hurt in the past and I will not let that happen again. Do you understand?" Marcy asked unsmilingly.

"Perfectly. You love your father and you want to protect him. Oh, now who is this handsome little gentleman? Hello, furry darlin'!"

She'd just shrugged off Marceline's threat as easily as if it were a joke between old friends and was crouching down to rub Cinnamon's fuzzy ears, making him purr and flop onto his back so she could tickle his belly. Marcy stared at her in disbelief for a second before turning back to the dinner and taking four plates out of the cupboard. Theresa Trunks was apparently completely immune to intimidation; that made her relationship with Hunson both more and less of a mystery.

Mostly Bonnie told them about how she hoped the hospital would allow her to go part time over dinner and Theresa regaled them all with unlikely sounding stories of her travels, like the time she'd met Elvis Presley in Hawaii and helped him jump start his fancy limousine when the battery was flat. Marceline was fully prepared to label the older woman a pathological liar but apparently she had photographs and Hunson nodded, he must have seen them. Great, she really had met Elvis. Marcy tried hard not to be jealous. And then of course Hunson had to open his mouth and say;

"Pumpkin, tell them about the time you put a fancy bra and panties on next door's Labrador and she ran off down the street in them."

"That was next door's little boy, he was eight. I was sixteen, I was home from college and babysitting him. I didn't put lingerie on a dog when I was sixteen." Marceline glowered back. Bonnie nearly choked on her food, obviously trying not to laugh but finding it hilarious anyway.

"She went hurtling off down the road shouting at this dog who thought it was a game so of course the poor thing set off running with a skimpy lace bra bouncing around on her chest and these brilliantly red frilly panties and her tail sticking out of the back wagging like it would come flying off, it was so funny!" Hunson chortled, ignoring the death glare his daughter shot him.

"I was trying to get next door's dog back before the neighbours saw and thought I'd dressed a dog in sexy red panties and a lace bra when I was very nearly an __adult__." Marcy growled, mortified. "Which I didn't do, because I'm not __weird__."

"Well the dog ran into the fields behind the houses and of course Marcy went after her and when she came back she was covered head to toe in thick brown mud; she'd tackled the dog right down a hill and into a half dried up spring. And she was so mad, you could hear her squelching and cursing right up the street with her arms full of wiggling excited Labrador and muddy lingerie. They dog thought they were playing and wouldn't follow her out of the ditch unless she was carried, you see. We didn't stop laughing about it for weeks, did we Pumpkin?" Hunson finished with a grin.

"One of us didn't." Marcy muttered.

"Anyway, you never did tell us how the two of you met?" Bonnie interrupted with her usual excellent timing. Marcy squeezed her knee in thanks under the table.

"Oh, Hunson came into my bakery and offered to help me do the taxes and of course I've been doing the books for years on my own but he looked so lost and he was so polite that I gave him a slice of apple pie on the house and let him look at the books. Turns out I was due a rebate worth thousands! So I brought another one of my signature pies around to say thank you and we've barely spent a moment apart since." Theresa beamed back at them. "He's such a gentleman."

"You still work?" Marcy asked in surprise.

"I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I retired. I do hope you'll enjoy the pies and cakes I brought for the both of you, the passion fruit meringue is just a little experiment if you let me know what you think of it." Theresa replied.

It was definitely Bonnie's turn to wash up and Theresa followed to help load the dishwasher much to Marcy's irritation. It did give her the chance to have a quiet word with her father though before they started on the apple pie Theresa had brought for dessert.

"Daddy, I don't disapprove but are you sure she's the kind of woman you want to date?" Marcy murmured the moment the kitchen door closed.

"Why wouldn't she be? She makes me feel young, she's fun and loving and we're having a fun time together." he replied.

"I just don't want you to get hurt. And please for the love of God, use protection. I'm not taking you to the doctor and explaining how you got a sexually transmitted disease." Marcy replied with a frown.

In the kitchen Bonnie broke off from telling Theresa about their holiday in Iceland a few years back and looked around, wondering what had made the usually very reserved Hunson laugh so loudly she could hear him through a closed door over the hum of the dishwasher.


	19. Week 19

**Job share! Is there any sweeter sound in the English language? According to my friends with small kids, no. I dunno if whatever country you're in has job share but it's literally where two people split the work of one person and both work part time hours to cover a single job but still receive the working benefits of being full time because we have weird working laws here. So I decided to take advantage of this and use job share.**

 **More minor characters here, although you can probably figure out who they are pretty easily. I just headcannon that in this universe the princesses are all doctors, it makes sense. And there's a very brief clown nurse. They seem the type to disapprove of unwed mothers.**

 **Content Warning: bad life choices involving junk food, damage to beautiful inanimate objects, the naughty step, doctors behaving badly, fizzy pink wine.**

* * *

Of course it was the last day of the autumn semester before Christmas and of course Marcy was rushed off her feet trying to make sure all her undergrads had their grades back, all her postgrads were ready for their big concert in the new year and all her colleagues had the last minute Christmas cards she'd stuck under their office doors on her way past that morning. When her phone rang at around twelve o'clock she assumed it would be Bonnie checking in on her and answered it without looking, too busy staring at her spreadsheet and trying to plot this year's grades against their predicted outcomes from the start of the semester. When a voice she couldn't immediately place answered she paused from realigning the slightly wonky snowman blue-tacked onto the top of her work computer monitor and frowned at the phone.

"Hey?"

"Hello, am I speaking with Miss Abadeer?"

"Dr Abadeer. Yes, you are. Can I help?"

"I certainly hope so. I'm calling from Rainbow Days Nursery, we have you listed as the secondary emergency contact for Jacqueline and I'm afraid she's taken ill."

Marcy's brain fizzed blankly for a moment, trying to remember who the hell Jacqueline was. It wasn't one of her godchildren, she was certain of- oh.

"Wait, do you mean Junior? Sorry, she just gets Junior or JJ at home, I'm not used to hearing her Sunday name. Have you tried calling her father?" she asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid Mr Madigan is in a meeting today and isn't taking calls, I already tried the restaurant and got told by the waiting staff that he can't be disturbed." the woman replied. Dammit, Jake was doing an interview with a local food and drink reviewer for the papers, he was so excited about it. Nothing was gonna ruin it quite as effectively has having a three year old vomiting all over the place while he was trying to show off. And Lady was in court again, she wasn't going to be finished until the jury said they were finished and who knew when that would be?

"Did you try her uncle Finn?" Marcy asked.

"I'm afraid he's not answering the phone. Dr Abadeer, we would really appreciate if someone could come pick her up soon. She's upsetting the other children."

Finn was probably at work, Lady's parents lived in another town, Joshua was presumably on one of his frequent holidays and neither of Junior's parents was available. Marcy knew there was no way Bonnie was leaving work in the middle of the day for a sick child unless limbs were missing, even if it was a family friend. She had enough very sick children to take care of. Looked like Marcy was missing the turkey dinner they'd had planned in lieu of a departmental Christmas party.

"Right, give me ten minutes to run home and get the car and another ten to drive over." she sighed.

She reluctantly pushed up from her desk and grabbed her coat and bag; the sky outside her window was leaden and ominous and Marceline didn't wanna get stuck walking through a snowstorm without her coat. Apparently the babies agreed; they began wriggling around enthusiastically the moment she stood up.

"Come on then my little caterpillars, let's go get your cousin JJ. I didn't have anything more than marking planned for the afternoon anyway." Marcy sighed, resting a hand against her rapidly expanding stomach. She was in one of Simon's old sweaters with the shirt she'd got with Lady underneath; Bonnie had laughed and told her she looked like she was slowly turning into her foster father that morning. It was a nice sweater though, warm and cozy and stylish when it wasn't being worn by a sixty-something year old beatnik. And it was about the only one she had that fit over her bump anymore; she looked like she was carrying a watermelon under her shirt and she was gladder than ever to have a supply of Lady's magic stretch-mark lotion. Not that the lotion helped so much for her, she'd already resigned herself to having a few visible lines on her stomach.

It was a quick walk home and took about a minute and a half to grab her keys, pet Cinnamon on the head on her way past and hurry back out of the door again. And then of course her damn car wouldn't start.

"Come on you bitch!" she snarled at it, but nothing happened when she turned the key in the ignition. Well that was just perfect, the only day of the year she really needed to be anywhere in a rush. And then Marcy's eye was caught by Bonnie's shiny brand new Jaguar sitting innocently next to her own. Her partner had been at some big conference that morning and got a lift there with a colleague, not wanting to risk parking her painfully expensive car outside a rather run-down hotel on the outskirts of town. Bonnie wouldn't mind her borrowing it in an emergency, right? And it was a nice car, it was the only really expensive indulgence Bonnie had allowed herself with the massive wage increase when she made consultant. Marcy had driven it before, although not usually in traffic. But every second she took over her decision Junior was sitting ill and alone in nursery waiting for her. Right, that made her mind up. Marcy ran back into the house and got Bonnie's spare car keys and the adjustable child seat from the cupboard under the stairs so Junior could stay safe with her. It was the work of a minute to set up the car seat and then she was on the road, enjoying the unusual feeling of the rich leather interior of the sports car.

The minute she stepped through the doors of the nursery the babies began jiggling around excitedly, almost as if they could smell the older children and wanted to play. Perhaps that was just Marcy's imagination though; she couldn't help but picture two black haired children playing among the other kids. Perhaps they'd go to that nursery, she'd ask Lady what it was like. Before Marceline could get too caught up in her thoughts a little hand slid into hers and she crouched down to hug Junior who'd come toddling out of a side room and had her thumb in her mouth for comfort.

"Hurts, Aunty Marcy." Junior told her tearfully, pointing to her stomach.

"Oh I know it does darling, but you're gonna come home with me for the afternoon and I'll look after you and kiss your tummy better, ok?" Marcy whispered, carefully straightening up with Junior in her arms. It was increasingly difficult to stand quickly with her bump even when she didn't have the added weight of a sick child in her arms.

"Jacqueline? Where are- oh, I'm sorry, are you Dr Abadeer?"

A large matronly woman had bustled out of the room Junior had come out of and was staring at Marceline with barely concealed contempt. So yeah, she was wearing Simon's old sweater and it was full of holes and she looked like she'd been trying to hide pillows underneath it, but so? Marcy would have thought anyone who worked in an early years nursery would be more than used to seeing pregnant women. And then she realised that the woman was frowning at the very obvious space on her left hand where the lack of wedding band was very apparent. Oh, so she was one of those types of matronly woman.

"That's right, I'm JJ's aunt. She'll be coming home with me for the afternoon, I'll leave a message for her parents." Marcy replied smoothly, keeping as much of her own dislike out of her voice as she could.

"We use her given name when she's with us." the woman informed her curtly.

"I was in the room when she was born, I know her name. she's only called Jacqueline because her father wasn't allowed to call her Jake Junior. So to the family she's just Junior, or JJ. That's probably why she's been unsettled, she doesn't know who you're talking to when you call her Jacqueline." Marcy frowned back. "Come on then darling, let's go home."

They swept out of the nursery without another word and JJ snuggled closer into Marcy's shoulder with a shuddering sniff that long practice had taught her aunt meant that any second a full strength Junior tantrum might errupt. Better to just distract her as best she could.

"Hey JJ, do you wanna come back to my place and see the kitties?" Marcy asked in a bright voice.

"Kitties!" Junior replied, instantly happy again. "Kitty catties!"

She was giggling again for no reason Marcy could really think of once the straps securing her into the car seat were in place. They set off carefully through the mid afternoon traffic and Marceline bit her tongue on more than one occasion to keep from her usual violent outbursts of road rage. Especially when she pulled up at a red light and some old creep in a beaten up old Volvo next to her looked her up and down, looked the car up and down then leered like he'd never seen a young female driving an expensive vehicle before. Luckily JJ remained happily oblivious in the passenger seat, fiddling curiously with the air vents on the dashboard. Marcy's mistake was to pull in for petrol a couple of blocks from home, at the small retail park by the main road. She hadn't wanted to return Bonnie's car with no fuel in it. And of course the second they pulled into the petrol station Junior's eyes lit up excitedly.

"Mcdodles." she breathed happily. "Please, Aunt Marcy?"

Oh man, Marceline had parked opposite the same twenty four hour McDonalds that Bonnie had taken her to that night when it had felt like she was going to die from pregnancy cravings. And Junior was called Junior because she was in every way like a tiny clone of Jake's personality in Lady's body. She even had his big pleading puppydog eyes when she turned to stare imploringly at her aunt.

"I don't think it's a good idea when you're sick, darling." Marcy replied as gently as she could. Not gently enough; Junior's lower lip began to tremble ominously and because of her damned pregnancy hormones Marcy could feel her own eyes beginning to tear up too. Her little goddaughter was just so _cute and tiny_ , she looked just like a miniature version of Lady when she was mad about something. "Alright. But just a little bit, ok? And we don't tell Aunty Bonnie about it, she's a total buzzkill about fast food."

"Mcdodles." JJ grinned. "Happy Mcdodles Meal!"

"Do you wanna be a good girl and share with me?" Marcy asked hopefully.

"No." Junior replied seriously, giving her a look that asked just how dumb her aunt thought she was? Well at least she wasn't crying. Crisis averted, she'd be fine with a tiny bit of junk food, right?

For a little while it seemed like it was working fine. Junior wolfed down her Happy Meal and played with her free toy for a few minutes before discarding it and electing to play with the open ketchup sachets instead. Once Marcy had wiped the streaks of ketchup off them both and managed to herd Junior back out of the door to the car she was feeling pretty pleased with herself; she was definitely crushing the whole cool aunt thing. It was only once they were back in the car and driving home that Junior began to howl with stomach pain again; Marcy got such a fright at the unexpected noise that she spun the wheel a little too hard coming onto the drive and at exactly the same time as the gut churning noise of horrifyingly expensive paintwork scraping along the metal of the gatepost hit her ears from one direction, the bubbling splash of toddler vomit meeting hand-finished Italian leather interior came from the other side. There didn't seem to be a swearword quite strong enough to express Marcy's displeasure and even if she could think of something worse than the very worst words she knew JJ was staring up at her with a vomit stained jacket and big sad eyes.

"Hurts." the little girl told her again.

"Not as much as how badly your Aunt Bonnie yelling at full volume hurts." Marcy muttered to herself as she reversed off the drive again and pulled back up next to her own car. First things first; Junior was a human being not a thing so she needed to be cleaned and soothed. The car was insured, her goddaughter wasn't. So Marcy unclipped JJ and carried her gingerly into the house, trying to avoid dripping vomit on herself or the floor. At least the good news was that Bonnie probably wouldn't murder her for scraping the car, not when she was pregnant. On the other hand there were only about another five months until the twins were due, that might not be enough time for her partner to calm down to a safe level. Marcy took all of that stress and worry about how badly Bonnie might flip out, squeezed it all into a little ball and put it to the back of her mind for further panicking over later, once Junior was cleaned up.

...

"MARCY GET YOUR BUTT IN HERE AND EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CAR!"

Good thing JJ had already woken up again. She looked up at her aunt sternly and whispered;

"Bad Aunty Marcy. You gonna naughty step."

"Probably. I donked her car." Marcy whispered back with a wink. "You gonna be ok watching Fantasia while I go talk to Aunty Bonnie?"

Junior nodded enthusiastically and snuggled back down into the oversized sweater Marcy had loaned her while her own clothes were in the washing machine to clean the vomit off them. That didn't leave her with any other options than going and facing the music; Marceline had really been hoping Junior would say no but it looked like she just couldn't catch a break that day. She hurried through to the hall as quickly as the sizeable bump would allow.

"Ok, babe, I borrowed you car and we had a little accident-"

"Why the fu-"

"AND! Junior's here. So please mind the language."

"...Why the fudge did you borrow my car? Why's Junior here? Love? What's wrong, why are you crying? Oh come here, are you hurt?"

Bonnie's anger melted the second she saw a tear form on the end of one of Marcy's ridiculously long eyelashes. She dumped her bag and held out her arms without even bothering to shrug out of her coat and hat.

"N-not hurt, just can't deal with you being m-mad at me." Marcy sniffed, snuggling into the hug. "Junior was sick coming onto the drive and I scraped the gate. My car wouldn't start and her nursery called because she was ill and nobody else could collect her. M'sorry. I cleaned the vom out of the car and called the garage but they can't fit it in until after Christmas now and I'm _sorry,_ I'm such an idiot."

"Shh, it's ok. You get a lie in tomorrow and Junior's alright, isn't she? I bet the two of you spent the whole afternoon watching Fantasia and eating rice pudding, didn't you?" Bonnie soothed.

"Not the whole afternoon. We had a nap too and Junior got a bath. She used your fancy pink bubble bath, she wanted to make the water princess colours." Marcy replied with a sniff, trying to master her stupid tears. "Jake's coming to pick her up in a bit, he just called. He'll get the twins and the older two then drop by for JJ. And the woman at her nursery looked at me like I was filth for daring to walk around obviously pregnant without a ring on my finger. I thought strangers' opinions had stopped bothering me a long time ago but it upset me."

Bonnie backed them both up to the staircase, the only available place to sit in the hall, and sank down with Marcy's head cradled in her lap.

"You're having a rough day with your hormones?" she asked quietly. Marcy nodded.

"JJ's so tiny and she's already three, what if one of our two get ill? They'll be even smaller. I don't know how to look after a sick newborn." Marcy whispered after a long minute.

"Luck you're having them with a specialist paediatrician then. If anything seems even the tiniest bit more than we can deal with when they get ill you know I'll have them straight into the hospital and I'll personally supervise their treatment."

"You promise?"

"Of course."

Bonnie was about to suggest they stand up from their uncomfortable perch on the stairs and maybe go check on JJ but the toddler had already come through to the hall to see what was happening. She had her arms full of a slightly traumatised Peppermint who wasn't struggling or unsheathing his claws but from the expression on his furry face didn't appreciate being used as a living teddy bear. She slumped down in Marcy's lap and prodded Peppermint's ear happily.

"Look," she breathed, holding her waxy finger up for them. "Icky ear poop."

"That sure is some icky ear poop. Never ever stop being curious about the world, darling." Marcy told her fondly.

When Jake knocked on the door a few minutes later and let himself in it was to find all three of them snuggled up on the sofa watching the end of Fantasia. Junior was still wrapped in an adult sized sweater and flung herself happily into his arms, finally letting go of a relieved looking Peppermint who slunk away under the sofa.

"Aunty Marcy went naughty step, Daddy." Junior told him seriously after she'd finished screaming with laughter while Jake pretended to eat her nose. "Th'car went _scccrrrrrrrk._ Aunty Marcy was _naughty_."

"She is a very naughty lady, I know. And anyone who makes a car go scurk definitely needs the naughty step." Jake replied with a grin. Marcy rolled her eyes at him.

"Someone distracted me by screaming like they were being set on fire then vomiting everywhere. Turns out junk food isn't good for poorly tummies. My bad." she replied. Jake shifted Junior to his other arm and reached down to hug her.

"Don't sweat it, one time Charlie ate a whole bottle of extra hot sauce. We had to take her to the doctor, she almost gassed everyone else in the waiting room with her unholy farts. At least I know for certain they're my daughters." Jake added proudly.

"Uhuh. Talking of your children, you appear to be unusually alone." Bonnie added, looking around. "I know the garden's a mess, I've not had time to do much with it in forever, but you're not letting Kim and Charlie use the bamboo canes for sword fighting out there again are you?"

"Nah, they're waiting in the car. Charlie's singing for Violet and TV so they're probably screaming the place down." Jake replied. Before anyone could say more his car alarm set off outside and Jake sighed. "Come on the JJ, let's go home and let your aunts enjoy some peace. I'll see you guys at the weekend?"

"Just me. Bon's got some very serious and important doctor work to do." Marcy replied with another eye roll.

"Long-standing poker night arrangement. I'd invite you too but you'd have to go to medical school for at least five years first." Bonnie added.

"I'll pass, thanks. Well, just you me and Finn then. Gonna be just like old times except you can't drink and we're all as old as garlic balls. Lady's staying home with the kids since Dad's away till the new year. Catch you both later, thanks for looking after the jiggler."

Bonnie stood and walked them both to the door, locking it after them and waving their car away as it pulled around the corner. She was certain that she saw Kim whip his hand away from the gear box when Jake opened the driver's side door. By the time she came back to the lounge Marcy had already pulled her phone out and was scrolling through takeaway menus.

"I'm not cooking. Sorry, no, I'm exhausted." she announced. "So you get to choose between Indian, Chinese or pizza. But I've had a whole afternoon of watching cartoons and pretending to be a dinosaur for whatever reason and my back is killing me and my feet ache and I'm not standing by the oven. Nope."

"I expect you'll be worn out from making my car go scurk." Bonnie replied as she collapsed onto the sofa next to her girlfriend. "Takeout's fine. Just try not to break anything when you get up to collect it."

Marcy stuck her tongue out by habit but she was phenomenally grateful that Bonnie hadn't freaked too badly about the car. Apparently crying worked, she'd have to remember that for next time. Of course Marceline hated crying and her stupid hormones were making her eyes leak all the damn time. But maybe, if she needed to get out of trouble in a hurry. She filed it away as something that might be useful in a pinch if she couldn't talk her way out of whatever it was.

...

Six o'clock Friday evening brought a knock on the door that revealed itself to be Lydia with a whole case of wine. Marcy's eyes narrowed.

"You're kicking me out to have a girly night with Lyds? No fair, I wanna stay." she pouted to Bonnie while the enthusiastic woman was hanging up her coat in the hall.

"She works in a hospital and she knows the secret doctor handshake, she gets to come to poker night." Bonnie replied. "Besides we're just gonna be drinking and playing cards and probably trashing King, you're not missing anything. Ooh, that'll be Angela."

She hurried off to answer the next knock on the door and sure enough Bonnie's old oncology junior friend Angela Berryman followed her into the lounge a moment later.

"Marceline! I haven't seen you in forever, God, you're the size of a house! I didn't know you guys were having a Christmas baby!" Angela beamed at her.

"We're not. It's twins." Marcy replied, a little softly because she hadn't realised she was quite that massive.

"Congrats. You're gonna make such awesome parents." Angela smiled. "Bon, I have _so much_ gossip, should we wait until Turtledove gets here?"

"Wait, she's ringing me." Lydia announced importantly. She put down the manicure kit she'd been unpacking and grabbed her vibrating phone. " _Hey gurrrrl._ Yeah we're here already. Uhuh. Yeah? Sure, but I can't promise we won't start the wine already. Hmh, no, he has a new girlfriend anyway. Sure. I'll ask. Hey, Marce? Is there any chance you can arrange for Finn to 'accidentally' bump into Nessa some time? She saw him coming to meet me from work when we were dating and she only just found out we broke up. Hey, Nes? No, she's shaking her head, Hunk Cop is a no-go."

"I changed my mind, I'm outta here. Have fun being disgustingly feminine." Marcy announced with a wrinkled nose. Lydia was still fiddling with the manicure set while she chattered away on her mobile and Berryman had already pulled out several bottles of fizzy pink wine and a large box of chocolates. Bonnie kissed her girlfriend on the cheek a little distractedly and motioned for Berryman to help herself to wine glasses.

"Have a good night, say hi to the boys."

Marcy waved over her shoulder and slouched off out of the door. Bonnie stuck her head into the hall and made sure she'd gone before ducking back into the lounge.

"Right. So she hasn't decided when she's gonna go on maternity leave yet but I was thinking that would be the day we'd have the baby shower. Lyds, you wanna be the planning queen for this?" Bonnie asked with a grin.

"Course. I'll plan a baby shower so amazing she'll literally go into premature labour with delight." Lydia grinned enthusiastically.

"Maybe not quite that amazing, I don't think I could cope."

"Figuratively?"

"Better."

They were well into their second bottle of wine when there was another knock on the door and Bonnie stood to let in Vanessa Turtledove. The sleepy faced woman smiled around at them all a little sheepishly and swept her blonde mane off her face

"Hey ladies. Sorry I'm late." she mumbled. "Deal me in?"

It was a brilliant night, Bonnie thought a little giddily over their fourth poker game. Probably because she was winning, but it felt like forever since she'd just kicked back with her doctor friends and relaxed. It was wonderful hanging with Jake, Finn and Lady but sometimes she missed the company of the people she knew independently of her partner. And of course the majority of them were doctors and they worked crazy hours too so it was usually months between their infrequent meet-ups.

"Hey Bon, you'll never guess who turned up sniffing around for hand outs at St Joseph's." Berryman told her a little tipsily as Lydia shuffled the deck. "None other than Lady Arrogance herself, Shoko The Klepto."

"Sounds gossipy, fill me in!" Lydia cut in enthusiastically.

"My ex." Bonnie sighed. "We were pretty serious for a while as undergrads, at least I was. Until a ton of my stuff started going missing and I asked her if she'd seen it. Queue a sudden massive screaming fit about how she definitely wasn't a kleptomaniac and how dare I accuse her and how I never understood her and besides _he_ was so much better in bed anyway. So I just sort of stood there in the middle of town while she screamed at me all about how she'd been cheating on me with some guy and basically admitted to stealing from me too. In the end I walked off and threw every single item of hers still in my room into the trash. She joined up with MSF right after graduation and now she's back because she lost an arm to a landmine and wanted to try to get her claws back into me. Guess I wasn't so much of a terrible prospect now that she's unemployed, newly disabled and lonely."

The other three goggled at her and Bonnie realised a little too late that she hadn't told anyone but Marcy about Sho turning up at the hospital that horrible day.

"She came and stalked me at work, tried to manipulate me into taking her back before I ended up covered in baby crap with Marcy. Obviously I told her to piss off." Bonnie shrugged around her wine glass.

"If she comes back let me know, I'll like, _pummel_ her." Lydia announced importantly.

"Lyds, just leave it. It's fine, I wouldn't go anywhere near Shoko again if she was the last woman alive. Although she was making threats about trying to get a job with us." Bonnie added with a frown.

"Can't say I blame her. I'd give my firstborn to work at the Wolfson Unit." Berryman replied a little wistfully. "St Jo's is fine I suppose but do you know how jealous I am of you bossing it up at the only specialist unit in the county? How'd you even manage that when you'd only been a consultant for five minutes?"

"It was an internal only vacancy and it was between me and King. The hospital administrators may be about as dynamic as a loaf of bread but even they could see he wasn't a good bet. I only applied as an afterthought anyway; I told Marcy about it and she told me to give it a shot because you never know if you don't ask. So I somehow wound up as a department head." Bonnie replied a little self-consciously. Then something occurred to her, something she hadn't thought of yet. "Ange, how would you feel about doing a job share? You're already part time, how'd you like the same hours but with full time benefits and you'd get to work with me and Lyds?"

Berryman's mouth fell open.

"Are you offering to split your job with me?" she gasped.

"It'd be subject to an interview with admin but yeah, if you want. I need a talented and trustworthy oncologist who knows their way around a tricky consultation, can handle King's attitude and would prefer part time hours. You think you're up to joint-heading a department? They've been kinda slow on letting me know if I can go part time and this way we both get to be there for our kids and improve our careers." Bonnie replied with a grin.

"Dammit I knew I should have stuck with oncology." Turtledove sighed. "It sounds so much more exciting than dermatology."

Marcy would have been so bored if she'd stayed, Bonnie reflected. But she'd had an awesome time hanging out with her doctor friends and it looked like she might have solved her work-life balance problem. King was going to go spare when he realised he'd now have not one but two younger female bosses and that was worth any amount of lengthy administration interviews.


	20. Week 20

**Aaah guys I'm so sorry I've not updated. I've been kinda ill with the flu, busy with a metric fuckton of projects and life distractions. I'm so sorry! But we've reached the halfway point! Week twenty is another big one, the mid-term abnormality scan.**

 **I'd like to send a special thank-you to my amazing friend Schwarzeil for being the most awesome and brilliant muse, proof reader and general all-round wonderful person. And to the beautiful DiddlyPanda for her continuing brilliance and support. And well, just all of you. You guys make writing so worthwhile when you send me your love and words of support. It's an absolute pleasure to share this story with you all.**

 **Content Warning: moodiness, mild references to bathroom functions (absolutely necessary I'm afraid),**

* * *

The mood swings weren't as bad and they had been in the first trimester so really Marcy had no excuse for her bad mood except that Bonnie was irritating the living fuck out of her.

"How do you even turn corners in this thing? It handles like a baked potato on a skateboard." the redhead groused as they were pulling around the end of their street.

"Believe it or not, some of us don't like to start our mornings by having juvenile fantasies about being racing drivers. If your car was a normal car instead of a ridiculous beast that you only own to show off with then you'd be used to driving like a normal person." she shot back. Bonnie just smiled at her, refusing to rise to it.

"Someone's grumpy this morning." she observed.

"Yeah well someone else was snoring like a broken band saw all night and keeping me awake and two other very small people were using their mother's bladder as a bouncehouse. And then the cats that Dr Band Saw insisted on getting joined in jumping on my stomach, and someone still feels pretty much like they're going to pee themselves. So if you could stop being so annoyingly cheerful and just concentrate on driving and not talking smack about my car, someone would definitely appreciate it."

"You can pee after your scan. You need to go in with a full bladder so they can see the babies properly."

"Ooh thanks for telling me, Bon. I definitely didn't know that already. Just thought you were banning me from the bathroom because you were a sadistic fuck and thought it was funny."

Bonnie just smiled sweetly and continued driving. Marceline sulked. She was taking it out on her partner and she knew it but she was tired, grumpy, hungry and very aware she wasn't allowed to use the bathroom until after her scan. And her favourite red boots hadn't fit when she'd tried to get dressed that morning and Bonnie had just shrugged and said probably her feet had swollen because of the pregnancy. Would've been good to know about that earlier, she thought sulkily. She could have tried stretching them by putting bags of water in the toes and leaving them overnight in the freezer but it was a lot of effort to go to and really she just wanted some sympathy and maybe a hug. Annoyingly Bonnie hadn't given her either, just told her to hurry up and get some other shoes or they'd miss their appointment.

The rush hour traffic was awful and Marcy felt like every single bump in the road was magnified a thousand times through her swollen abdomen. If Bonnie wasn't such a drama queen they'd have taken her car with its superior suspension but she'd refused to drive it until it was resprayed after Christmas, claiming it would be unprofessional to be seen at the hospital with it all scraped and battered on one side. Marceline felt certain her girlfriend was deliberately accelerating over the bumps in the road but then it was hard to tell with the way Bonnie was slamming her foot on the peddle.

"Does this even accelerate at all? Marcy, love, we have to get you a new car. This thing is terrible, it's like driving a golf cart." Bonnie said after a few silent minutes.

"It does what I need it to."

"Look, your car says things about you. My car says 'I appreciate luxury and being rewarded for hard work and I'm someone who knows how to handle a top of the range motor'. Your car says 'I've got a lot of heavy stuff to carry and I hate driving'. Driving is fun! And if you didn't have such an awful car you might actually enjoy it."

"I like my car." Marceline replied with a huff in her voice.

"You like it because it's big enough to fit a double bass in the back and you've had it for years and you hate change. Love, its slow and old and a crappy drive. We're not exactly struggling for money here, even with my reduced hours we've got plenty put aside for a better car. For the twins at least even if you don't want it for yourself."

Even though she wanted to sulk and argue Marcy knew she was fighting a losing battle. Bonnie was the prettiest and most surprising petrolhead she'd ever met; what the redhead didn't know about cars wasn't worth knowing. That included chewing Marcy out for accidentally leaving the radio running overnight which had resulted in a flat battery when she'd needed to pick up Junior the week before. But it wasn't really Marceline's fault she'd argued, because she had baby brain and she'd been focussing on trying not to turn into an emotional wreck because the twins were kicking harder than ever that day. Looked like she was getting a new car, Marcy thought glumly to herself.

"Fine." she sighed, defeated. "After Christmas you can go wet your panties over cars and I guess I'll drive whatever you pick out for me."

They pulled up at the hospital and by habit Bonnie drove straight to her staff parking spot. She cringed internally when she realised it meant leaving Marcy's ugly old Honda next to the row of shiny luxury cars owned by her colleagues but she didn't want to have to go park in the visitor car park and walk in the rain all the way around the building. Besides once they were inside her mood brightened again.

"Morning, Julian." Bonnie called to King's back when he came out of a room in front of them just past reception. The way his shoulders visibly stiffened in dislike at her voice was enough to put Marcy in an instant good mood too. She laced her fingers through Bonnie's and slid a little closer as he turned around.

"Sugar. I thought you were off." he frowned at them.

"Mid-term abnormalities scan. I'm here with my partner." Bonnie replied with a pleasant smile. Probably nobody but Marcy would have recognised exactly how fake that smile was.

"Congratulations." King ground out in the same tone of voice someone would usually use to swear with.

"Thanks. It's twins! Two little Sugars running around the place, we're so excited!" Marcy beamed back. She bit back a laugh at the expression on King's face; he apparently decided that the best way to deal with that information was to pretend she wasn't there.

"Sugar, you need to review the case notes for Pritchard and the Wainwrights before it goes on to clinical audit and admin called this morning to ask if you had a shortlist of candidates for your job share. Did I miss a bulletin?" he all but snarled.

"It's no secret I'm reducing my hours, Julian. If you'd like to be considered to job share and want to go part time then by all means, put your name forward. I'll look forward to reading the reference your direct supervisor provides." Bonnie replied with another smile. This time it was a touch calculating, triumphant. Marcy looked between them waiting for the explosion and was mildly disappointed when King just turned very red in the face and strode away towards the stairs without another word.

"You're his direct supervisor." Marcy observed as Bonnie's face split into a wide grin.

"Yep."

"And you just cockblocked his only opportunity for professional advancement without having to leave the most prestigious department for a hundred miles."

"He cockblocked himself the day he marched into my office and screamed insults to my face. I just thought he'd like to be gently reminded of it."

"Bon, I'm not a medical doctor but I'm pretty sure the correct medical term for the expression on his face was 'severe and acute butthurt'. He's right; you are a sly, underhanded bitch. And I fucking _love_ it."

"You're so sweet." Bonnie giggled, leaning in to kiss Marcy's cheek happily. It was a good day; they were gonna see their babies on the scan again, it was Christmas soon, she'd be able to spend more time with her family in the New Year, they were gonna go car shopping which was one of her favourite things to do and King had spectacularly fucked his career. Really Bonnie felt like she'd gotten her Christmas presents early.

The nerves kicked back in as they were waiting outside ultrasound for James to finish up with the patient before Marceline. She found herself pacing up and down a little from anxiety instead of just from the physical difficulties involved in holding a litre or more of fluid in a bladder already under excess pressure from two excitable babies jumping around on it. The mid-term scan was for abnormalities and what if one of the babies wasn't healthy? Or both of them? What if James had made a mistake at the first scan and there were actually three babies in there? Or more? What if he turned around and said her uterus was covered in heartbeats? She didn't even know what the medical term was for a multiple pregnancy where there were ten babies. Double-quintuplets? Bonnie could probably tell her the details of any known historical cases and how many of the babies had survived birth, Marcy shuddered with sudden horror when she remembered that at her last scan James had told her multiple births were higher risk. What if one of their babies died? Or if _she_ died and they grew up without her? If Bonnie couldn't cope like her father hadn't been able to and-

A warm hand sliding into her own pulled her out of her panic spiral.

"You ok, love?" Bonnie asked her quietly.

"Yeah, just having a little freak out. I want our babies to be healthy." Marcy whispered back.

"There's no reason to think they wouldn't be, sweetie. And worrying about it isn't gonna help. The best thing you can do right now is try to stay calm."

"I know, but I-"

The door opened and Marcy broke off, looking up in surprise. She'd forgotten she was waiting for their sonographer.

"Drs Abadeer and Sugar. Come on in, I've been looking forward to seeing you." James beamed at them both.

It was pretty much like déjà vu of the last scan, except that James was careful not to focus on Marcy's kidney this time. She figured he was probably pretty nervous still, once she wasn't so distracted by panic that she wasn't able to focus on anything else it was plain to see that James regarded Bonnie as some sort of demi-god. It was less like the usual attentive guy staring at his crush and more like the way a dog watches its master, Marcy thought. His eyes constantly slid to her searching for approval and when she nodded that he'd done something right Marceline kept expecting him to roll onto his back and beg for belly rubs. No wonder Bonnie hadn't been taken with the idea of getting a puppy, she already had one at work. Marceline couldn't completely repress her giggles at the mental image of her girlfriend taking James out into the park on her lunch break so he could do his business. They both looked at her a little funnily while he was spreading the contact gel.

"Sorry, ticklish." Marcy lied with an apologetic smile.

"Well now, there they are! Two beautiful babies, and we'll just take a peek and see that everything's running smoothly." James said as he brought the transducer into contact with the gel again. Marcy instantly forgot that she'd been thinking about anything else.

They were bigger for sure; the one who was almost certainly a girl looked like she might have her thumb in her mouth. Marcy shot a quick glance at her partner and this time Bonnie didn't look like she was about to pass out, she was examining the screen minutely with a gentle smile softening her face. The simple joy and tenderness in her expression when she admired the children they'd created together was something Marceline would remember as one of the most beautiful moments in their whole relationship; decades later she'd still remember that day and smile warmly to herself because Bonnie looked simply perfect to her in that moment.

James was busily scribbling notes in their file and nodding contentedly when Bonnie leaned over and murmured into her partner's ear.

"They look fine. Better than fine. He'll need to check thoroughly but from what I can tell they look just perfect. And she's definitely a girl. Do you wanna know about the other one?"

"Can you tell?" Marcy asked, a little surprised. The second baby was still at something of an awkward angle.

"I, um, might have spent my lunch breaks for the last few weeks reading up on exactly what to look for on these scans. I'm not saying I'm any kind of expert but I'm pretty confident on the gender of them both." Bonnie replied with a gentle blush on her cheeks.

"Tell me, then." Marcy breathed. She thought at that moment she might love her partner more than she ever had before.

"You were right. Your maternal instincts were absolutely correct right from the very start."

"We're getting a son?"

"Yes, love. He's an absolutely perfect baby boy. I can't wait to see your father's face when he finds out."

Marcy slid her arms around Bonnie's shoulders and felt like perhaps she might never let her go. That moment was too perfect to end, even when James finally announced that both babies looked the absolute picture of health and confirmed that they were having a boy and a girl.

...

"So there's a tiny penis growing inside of you lady parts _right now_? That's a bit gross, actually."

"You are so distasteful, Finn."

"You know you wouldn't want me any other way. Right?"

His best friends exchanged an incredulous look and he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever! I'm getting another nephew, it's brilliant news!" he grinned at them both. "You just wait until Jake and Lady get here, I'm buying you all anything you want to drink! Except you, Marcy. You get non-alcoholic stuff. Sorry."

"I'm pretty sure you just offered to buy me a whole jug of virgin strawberry daiquiri all to myself so that's fine by me." she replied with a sly smile.

Finn just rolled his eyes again and pushed off from their usual table, making his way to the bar with a slight slump to his shoulders.

"Does he seem a bit... manic to you?" Bonnie asked the moment he was out of earshot.

"A little. Like, he's trying too hard to be thrilled for us. Did he ever tell us how the making up with Phoebe went?"

"He did not. So, badly do you think?"

"Looks that way. Dammit. I liked her." Marcy frowned.

"Just before Christmas too, and this is about the anniversary of half his squad getting killed in Afghanistan. I'm worried about him. Do you wanna do your best friend magic?" Bonnie added with a thoughtful expression. "You know he always opens up to you."

"I'll see if I can catch him alone for a quiet word later." Marcy agreed. Just then they were interrupted by the arrival of Jake and Lady, both grinning from ear to ear and with their arms wrapped around each other's waists like a pair of teenagers.

"Wait don't tell me, let me guess. You're pregnant again?" Marcy asked with a smile. Lady didn't reply, just shook her head and held out her left hand a little shyly so the light caught the brilliant diamond held in an elegant band of rose gold around her ring finger. Bonnie squealed in excitement for her friend and Marcy gasped in surprise.

"Finally! Jake, I'd given up hope of you ever making a decent woman of her! You old dog!" she grinned, heaving herself up as quickly as she could and wrapping them both in a tight hug.

"Marcy, your babies just kicked me in the hip." Lady told her a little tearfully. "I think they're congratulating us too."

Jake slipped away from them and across to the bar, slinging his thick arm around his younger brother's shoulder and pulling him into a hug too. They were too far away for Marcy to hear any of what he said but she saw Finn nod and wondered what was going on with that, it wasn't the usual reaction she'd have expected from him on the news of his brother's engagement. They'd all been waiting so long for Jake to get around to proposing that Marcy had just assumed that like her and Bonnie years earlier they'd talked it over and agreed they didn't need a government endorsed certificate to prove they were a legitimate couple. Evidently something had changed their minds.

"It was so sweet, he got Kim to come get me when I was fixing my hair and tell me 'Daddy has something to ask you', and I just told him I'd be down in a minute. I thought it would be something routine about work or what time we were going out tonight or something. Then Charlie came by and said 'Daddy says he doesn't think he'd ever know how to love someone who wasn't you' and I thought, that's so sweet and cute and a really weird thing to send our daughter to tell me. So I got up to go see what he was playing at and Junior was in the lounge. She was giggling and wriggling around like she does when she's got a secret and she was holding something out for me and it was a ring box. And I just sorta froze. I asked her 'is that for me?' and she said 'Daddy wanna wedding to you' and then Jake was behind me on one knee and then I was just crying and messing up my make up and telling him yes." Lady finished a little breathlessly.

"He's literally the best person on the planet. I've known it for years but then sometimes I just get reminded of it again. I'm so damn happy for you guys." Marcy replied with another tight hug and a massive grin.

Jake and Finn were still at the bar and Bonnie excused herself to go help them carry the drinks. When she got back to their table she gave Marcy a very subtle look that told her Jake hadn't been allowed to pay for anything and Finn had been firmly told to put his wallet away too. She'd brought an ice bucket and a magnum bottle of the nicest champagne their regular pub had to offer as well as Marceline's jug of strawberry juice. Marcy knew her girlfriend would have pursued a career in medicine even if she'd been paid minimum wage for it forever but since she was very well compensated for the long years of medical school she preferred to share her relative good fortune with their friends whenever possible. It was something she'd always done even when they'd been a lot poorer at the start of their relationship. When Kim was a baby Jake had mostly stayed home to care for him while Lady was still trying to make headway in a white male dominated profession and Bonnie had regularly taken over car loads of groceries to restock their fridge and cupboards while an exhausted Jake took a grateful nap and swore he'd pay her back. Bonnie had never let him give her a penny for any of the food she'd brought for them, he was practically family and you looked after family no matter what.

"Right, to the soon-to-be Mr and Mrs Madigan, the most perfect and adorable couple I've ever had the pleasure to meet." Bonnie said once the champagne was open and five glasses poured. She raised her own champagne flute in a toast and everyone else followed suit, even Marcy lifted her glass although she'd already taken a sip because she was weak for strawberry.

"Finn, will you do me the very great honour of being my best man?" Jake asked around the slight blush just visible under his close trimmed beard once they'd all had a mouthful of champagne.

"You bet! I'm gonna best man the crap out of your wedding!" he replied with a grin that didn't completely reach his eyes. "Everyone's gonna be like, _woooahh this wedding is mathematical!"_

"What does that even mean, Finn? You gonna throw calculators instead of confetti?" Bonnie chimed in with a smile for him that was two parts affection and just a dash of concern.

"Uh, it means it's gonna be the best wedding ever! I am gonna _crush_ this wedding!" he replied a little desperately. Bonnie let it lie but she sent a significant glance in Marceline's direction. Soon, she nodded back minutely. She'd get Finn alone and bully him into telling her what was up.

They laughed and joked their way through another couple of hours of the night and it was just like always, fun and relaxing, but Marceline couldn't help noticing that Finn was just going through the motions. Probably Jake noticed it too but he knew his best friend would be able to get it out of his brother better than he could when they were in a big group. If it had just been the two of them Finn would have opened up to Jake but not when Lady and Bonnie were there too. Finally when he slipped off to the bathroom and didn't return within a few minutes Marcy got up quietly and pushed her way through the crowded room to the back exit of the building. There was Finn, sitting alone in one corner of the dark beer garden with a roll-up hanging from his mouth and his hand pressed against his side where she knew a spider web scar covered half his abdomen.

"Thought you'd quit?" Marceline asked in as neutral a tone as possible as she slid onto the bench next to him. Finn hastily stubbed the cigarette out and tossed it to the ground.

"Yeah. Sorry. Just, sometimes if I've had a drink y'know?"

"Uhuh. So, how'd you wanna do this? You're gonna spill your guts one way or another and you know it. Want me to come over big sisterly or go the whole badass punk route and dead arm it out of you?" she asked quietly, bumping her shoulder against his. Finn sighed and hung his head.

"What am I doing wrong, Marce? Jake's been in the most sickeningly cute relationship since forever, you and Bon are practically fused on the molecular level and you're starting a family now too and I can't get a girl I like to stay with me for more than a couple of weeks because I can't be some perfect ideal she's got in her head but won't tell me about. What's with that? I tried what Bonnie told me, told her I was in love with her and I was gonna try harder and she just told me she wanted to cool things down and think about her feelings. What does that even mean?"

"Dude, it just means what she said. That she wants to cool it off and think. You're kinda intense sometimes, you know? And Phoebe's in a different place from us. She's younger than you, you're younger than me, I'm younger than Bon. Most of the time that doesn't matter in a relationship and then sometimes it kinda does. Sometimes people need time to realise that they're not who they were a few years back, even a few months back. I mean Jesus, dude, I still feel nineteen a lot of the time. And that was ten years ago. A whole decade. Time is weird, it goes by sorta slowly and then at the same time sorta like a runaway train. I'm gonna bet you my firstborn that she just needs to work out who the hell she is right now before she can decide if that person is compatible with who you are. If you love her then surely you've got time and space to give her when she needs it?"

Finn didn't reply straight away, he was staring up at the clear night sky and the frosted rings around the waning crescent moon hanging over distant hills. Marcy watched the small puffs of his breath in the icy air and held her peace waiting for him to think it through and formulate a reply. It was nice to be outside anyway despite the bitter December night, she'd found the artificial warmth of the pub a little cloying and close that night.

"How do you always manage to get into my head like that?" he finally asked. "You really think she just really needs time?"

"I never really told you so much about it at the time because I wasn't sure it even mattered and we made up pretty quick but I had the same thing about two years deep with Bonnie. I thought, is this gonna be it forever? Am I happy with that? And I had this whole sudden panic that I'd just convinced myself I was in love with her because that's what people do, they fall in love with wonderful sexy talented women who are making the world a better place. And I disappeared for a weekend and thought about it." Marcy replied carefully. It was still a little hard to talk about the most shameful thing she'd ever done to her partner, even knowing it had been years ago and Bonnie had long since forgiven her for it.

"You're nuts. You two have always been like one of those touchy-feely LGBT romance films that win a ton of awards but nobody except just out lesbians ever watch. Marcy, you'd have hacked your fingers off with a rusty spoon if Bonnie told you to when you first met her. How could you think it wasn't the real thing? There are undiscovered tribes in the amazon rainforest who know how in love the two of you were back then. Still are, it's sometimes a bit gross." Finn frowned.

"Because- and this is a one time deal for me to admit so don't ever mention it again- sometimes I'm just a fucking idiot. And when I saw how hurt and upset she was that I'd buggered off without telling her what was on my mind I was so panicked and sorry and _that_ , Finn, is true love. Forget the flowers and candlelit dinners and stuff. Imagine hurting that person and then if you feel like there's something alive with panic trying to claw its way out of your guts then you know it's love. I'm gonna bet Phoebe will be feeling that panic monster clawing at her any day now."

By the light spilling out from the pub and the cold moon overhead she could see the beginnings of hope stirring in his eyes and Marcy silently added in her head, _I hope._ Because the truth was that as good as she was at reading people she really didn't know Phoebe well enough to make more than an educated guess at what was bothering the younger woman. Normally she was good at guessing what other people were thinking; growing up insecure about her place in her foster family despite Simon and Betty's constant reassurances had left Marceline with an excellent sense for reading people's moods and body language. Finn was coming around to her way of thinking, she could see it on his face. She waited patiently, letting the seeds her words had planted in his mind take root. Eventually Finn nodded.

"I told her how I felt. I laid it all out for her and made myself vulnerable to her by showing my feelings. The rest is up to her now and if she can't do the same back then she's not the woman I thought she was anyway." he finally sighed.

"Good man. Hey, do you wanna do something I can guarantee is gonna put a smile back on your face?"

"Sure."

"Ok, give me your hand."

Finn held his hand out and Marceline slid it between her sweater and her shirt, letting his palm rest against her bump. Like they'd been waiting for their cue the babies dutifully writhed and Finn gasped.

"They're kicking! Marcy, I felt them move!" he grinned at her.

"That's your niece and nephew saying they think you're the best uncle ever and you're too awesome to stay sad." Marcy smiled back. "Come on inside, I'm gonna get a pint of that nice Belgian stuff in the funny shaped glass you like and watch you give yourself a beer mustache."

He followed her back inside, still smiling a little and looking a lot more relaxed than he had all night.


	21. Week 21

**Guys I'm sorry I didn't update sooner! I'm so rubbish I should live in a landfill. In my defence I've been planning a whole ton of new fics and working on my original stories too as well as holding down a full time job and trying to adopt a new kitten. Her name is Pinkie Pie and she's so freaking adorable. Check out my tumblr (pplleessiioossaauurr), there'll be pictures there soon.**

 **Sooo I'm not going back to uni this year. Mega bad times. I didn't get my application in on time so I'm stuck in job that I severely dislike for now. But hey, it gives me time to write for you lovely people and it more or less covers the bills. So there's that. At least it means I won't be disappearing from writing any time soon, so that's good right? And I continue on my quest to bamboozle an actual publisher into optioning one of my original novels. I'll make it one day or die trying or maybe give up and do something else, who knows? Oh the possibilities.**

 **Content warning: literally just fluffiness. This chapter is a total fluff-fest. Maybe a touch of angst at the memory of character death? But like 99.99% fluff.**

* * *

 _"Snow is falling-"_

"-it's raining-"

 _"-all around us-"_

"-babe, we're inside."

 _"-children playing, having fun-"_

"-bouncing on my internal organs-"

 _"Tis the season for love and understanding-"_

"-and painfully bad singing-"

"- _Merry Christmas, everyone."_

"-Bon, please. Please stop. It hurts my ears."

"You're such a Grinch. It's Christmas Eve! Lighten up a bit." Bonnie sighed theatrically. Marceline frowned and ignored her, electing instead to open the oven and check on the gingerbread reindeer they were taking to Simon and Betty's place the next day. She winced and slammed it shut again a second later, doubling forward and little with a grimace.

"Marcy? What is it?" Bonnie asked in concern.

"Hurts in my leg. Urgh, fuck these fucking cramps." she ground out between clenched teeth. Bonnie dropped to her knees next to her partner and immediately began carefully kneading the back of Marcy's right calf.

"Any better?"

"Yeah. Thanks babe. I'm gonna go right ahead and blame Lady, she never mentioned cramps and she's supposed to be the font of all pregnancy wisdom. My back hurts, my head hurts, my legs hurt and my hormones are _still_ mental. That's it, Lady's off my Christmas card list. I need someone to blame she made herself an easy target. Or you. It's your fault for getting me pregnant."

Bonnie didn't reply immediately and Marcy glanced down at her, feeling the smile slide from her face a little when she saw the pensive frown her girlfriend was wearing.

"Babe? I was just kidding." she said quietly.

"I know. Just sometimes it bothers me that I can't get you pregnant. I know it's stupid and the important thing is that we get two beautiful healthy babies no matter if they were conceived with donor sperm. But I just feel like maybe it matters to other people? Perhaps they won't think I'm a legitimate parent in the same way." Bonnie murmured after a second.

"But I know that you are and you know that you are and the babies will too. And anyone else can go to hell if they want to tell us our family isn't real. Who cares what they think?" Marcy asked quietly. She eased herself down onto her knees too, feeling the now familiar fluttering in her expanding bump that meant the twins were awake and wiggling around. Bonnie let herself be pulled into a hug and then slid down a bit lower to rest her head against the bump, running her free hand over it lovingly.

"Hello little ones, Mama here. You guys know I'm your Mama, right? And you know I love you more than anything in the whole world? You're both such wonderful little babies, you be nice to your Mum now, ok? She's super sensitive about being kicked in the kidneys and she's a total Grinch so you should try to make her happy that it's Christmas and not grumpy. You know what Christmas is, right? You're gonna love it, we're gonna fill the house with presents for you next year. Or, Santa Claus will. Do you guys know who Santa is?"

"Simon. It's Grandpa Simon in a red suit; he's not exactly being subtle about it with that big white beard." Marcy replied with a smile.

"Shh, don't listen to your silly Mum, babies. Santa's magical, he- oh!"

"Bon?"

"Someone just prodded my nose! They touched me!"

"Aww, that's adorable. It was the only Christmas present they could give you."

"Best Christmas present ever." Bonnie replied with a grin, looking up and meeting her partner's eyes. It was obvious that Marcy's bad mood had been instantly forgotten; she was full of smiles again and rubbing her bump dotingly.

The gingerbread was baked, the presents were wrapped and Cinnamon had been rescued from the top of the tree at least a hundred times already. Everything was prepared for Christmas but Marcy was feeling weirdly anxious about it anyway, because she'd definitely meant to talk to Bonnie about her plans but then she'd promptly forgotten because of baby brain. So after she'd triple checked everything for the next day, had a relaxing bath that she failed to relax in at all and avoided thinking about it completely by messing around with her double bass for an hour Marcy crept back downstairs to where Bonnie was typing up more important doctor notes in the lounge.

"Babe? I'm, uh, gonna go out for a bit. Meeting my father, um, just for a couple of hours. Is that ok?" she murmured from the doorway.

"Yeah? You're going to the Christmas Eve remembrance service with him that you've avoided every year he's asked since you lost your Mum. I know, it's ok." Bonnie replied after a second, glancing up distractedly from her work.

"Just, with the babies on the way, you know..."

"I do know. You're thinking about how important family is and you figured your continued reluctance to go with Hunson to the service probably hurt him more than you'd realised so this year you're gonna surprise him by being there and also feel like you're connecting the twins to the grandmother they'll never get to meet. Besides your Dad's spending tomorrow alone doing unspeakably gross things with his girlfriend, you want to see him over the holidays when there's no chance of walking in on him post-coitus. I understand, love. Go, have a nice time with you father."

"You're the best. And maybe a little psychic." Marcy breathed with a sheepish smile, before she backed into the hall and disappeared out the front door.

"Not really. I just know how your brain works, love. It's my favourite brain." Bonnie murmured to the empty doorway. Then she turned her attention back to her typing, she wanted to have it all completely finished before bed so she could concentrate on enjoying their last Christmas alone together for at least the next twenty years.

...

The service had been unexpectedly emotional and beautiful and Marcy had ended up shedding a couple of tears with her father which she hadn't done in years. By the time she got home she was exhausted again and took herself off to bed almost right after dinner. By the time Bonnie came to bed too she was already lightly snoring so the redhead just slid in next to her as quietly as possible, taking a moment to appreciate her girlfriend's face as she relaxed in sleep. Of course the early night meant Marcy was awake far too early next morning and was feeling weirdly energized. She tried for a few minutes to be a responsible adult and leave her partner to rest but it was so _boring_ just sitting in bed staring at the ceiling. She turned to where the redhead was deeply asleep on her back and prodded her shoulder.

"Bon? Bonnie."

"...Mm?"

"You awake?"

"Nuh."

"I can't sleep."

"Mm."

"Do you think the babies feel sad when I feel sad?"

"Whuh?"

"Like, do you think they can feel my feelings when I feel something?"

"Dunno. S'too early, why?"

"Just can't sleep more. I've got heartburn and my leg keeps cramping. Do you like the name Kashmir for a boy?"

"No?"

"Me either. Dunno why I thought of it, it's not a good name for a kid."

"Go back to sleep."

"That's even worse. Go Back To Sleep Sugar is probably the worst suggestion yet."

"Marcy!"

"Oh, now I like that! It's a name that says 'I'm awesome and sexy and cool'. Marcy Junior. That's brilliant. Bon? Bonnie? Hey nerd, are you pretending to be asleep to ignore me? Yo! Nerd!"

"This right here. This is what the prosecution will later refer to as 'motive'.

"Death threats on Christmas morning. Some people would call that rude."

"Marceline. Seriously. It is four thirty in the morning. Go. To. Sleep. Or so help me I will smother you with Hambo."

"Now who's a Grinch?"

"Me. Goodnight."

"You mean good morning. Bon? Bonnie!"

No matter how Marcy prodded her both literally and figuratively Bonnie continued to ignore her. Eventually Marcy lost interest and slid out of bed, figuring she might as well get an early start on Christmas Day. She snuck down the stairs without turning on the light and made her way into the lounge, thinking she could just check her emails on her laptop and stuff before making breakfast. That's where Bonnie found her a few hours later, fast asleep on the sofa with her laptop open on the coffee table and Cinnamon snuggled up against her bump purring contentedly.

"Marcy? Wake up, it's Christmas." Bonnie said as she shook her gently.

"Did Santa come?" Marcy mumbled, opening her eyes and squinting up at her partner with a confused frown.

"Well there's a big pile of presents under the tree with your name on so I guess you could say."

That woke Marcy up a bit further. She sat up, grinning and stretching, sending Cinnamon leaping to the floor with a disgruntled huff.

"I was dreaming, sorry babe. Thought you were Betty. D'you wanna get some food first?" she asked around a yawn.

"No! Presents! Christmas!" Bonnie replied with an enthusiastic grin. Marcy just smiled back and allowed herself to be helped up off the sofa and half dragged across the room to the glittering tree by their big bay window before flopping back down onto the rug and sitting cross legged next to the pile of gifts.

"Ok, let's see what we've got. 'To Cinnamon, Happy Christmas, love from Grandaddy'. He's officially gone nuts." Marcy said with a frown when she grabbed the first squishy package from under the tree. The paper was already a little ripped and chewed; she figured it must be a toy with catnip in. "Fur babies! Come here, you've got presents!"

Cinnamon came back to investigate the gift with feigned innocence that spoke volumes about who'd chewed it but Peppermint must still be out somewhere because even when Marcy shook the toy and revealed it had a bell inside he didn't come running.

"You're such a butt." Bonnie informed her, holding up the present she'd just unwrapped. It was ugliest Christmas sweater Marcy had been able to find. She still pulled it on over her pyjama shirt though, admiring the horrible clash of colours that detailed prancing reindeers in vomit-like shades of mustard yellow and burgundy on a background of sparkly sequin snow. "This is the worst yet. Where are you even finding these?"

"It's a secret, I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you." Marcy grinned back over one of her own gifts. "Oh, yay, a dressing gown. And it's the same shade of hospital green as the one you got me last year that I never wore. Thanks."

"See what I mean? You're a butt. That one's three sizes bigger so it'll fit over your bump."

"Even better. Nothing says 'Happy Christmas' like huge unflattering clothes that are stubbornly practical instead of fun. Whatever. Open the small one next."

Bonnie picked it up curiously, shaking the small rectangular package a little and shrugging when she still had no idea what it could be. She carefully peeled the tape off one end and peered inside before her eyes went wide and she tore the rest of the paper away, staring down in disbelief at the polished metal box in her hands.

"No way!"

"Way."

"Marcy!"

"Yep."

"This is mental!"

"You get the full day with an instructor, support team and your very own race suit on the track of your choice in the supercar of your choice, just call them and let them know what day you want. The box has the gift certificate and some information pamphlets inside, it's just for show so you had something to unwrap." Marceline told her a touch proudly. A full day training as a racing driver in any supercar Bonnie picked wasn't the cheapest gift she'd ever gotten but Marcy was still feeling guilty about donking the Jaguar and it had reminded her what a car freak her girlfriend was. Abruptly her vision was blocked by a sheet of sleep-messy light red hair as Bonnie barrelled into her and hug-tackled her to the floor with her enthusiasm.

"Oof, careful! Unborn children on board!"

"Sorry! Just, this is awesome! It's the best present ever! Are you gonna come watch me race? Are you coming in the car with me?"

"Not even if you paid me. But I'll watch you drive dangerously fast around a racing track if you want, I'll even cheer for you and spray you with champagne afterwards." Marcy replied with a fond grin.

"I think you gotta wear a teeny tiny bikini and pose seductively if you're planning on being a champagne girl. This present just gets better and better." Bonne replied happily.

"Pervert."

"But I'm _your_ pervert."

"I know. I'm so lucky."

"Open this one." Bonnie added, sitting up from where they'd sprawled on the floor from the force of her excited hug and pulling a slim box from the pile of gifts with Marcy's name on them. Her girlfriend frowned down at it, taking it gingerly and examining it from all angles before even attempting to open it. "It's not booby trapped! Open it you dilweed!"

Reluctantly Marcy did; wondering if it was a joke present because normally Bonnie didn't tell her what to open and just let her find surprises at her own pace. Her brow furrowed further when she discovered a slim cardboard box which on opening contained an elbow-length pair of dark red satin gloves, a pair of small binoculars on a thin golden rod and a slim envelope about the right size for two slips of paper that Marcy felt certain were tickets of some kind. Her eyes widened when she put it all together.

" _No!_ "

"Yes!"

"You hate opera!"

"But I love you. And I want to see you all dressed up in opera gloves being fancy and adorable, I can sit through The Magic Flute if it means I get to watch you in a ball gown again."

"You're too awesome to be real. Thank you so much!" Marcy breathed in wonder, still staring down at the opera tickets and accessories. Bonnie just grinned back happily and hugged her girlfriend again before heading back to her own pile of gifts.

It was a pretty good Christmas morning; after eight years together they were both fairly confident when buying gifts for each other. Bonnie laughed over the bright pink floral gardening accessories kit she unwrapped next and Marcy was over the moon with a collection of rare first pressing vinyl records that she insisted on putting on in the background while they opened the rest of their presents. Pink Floyd wasn't very festive music but Bonnie didn't mind, not when she saw the way her girlfriend's eyes lit up upon discovering the certificate of originality included with the records. There were fancy bubble baths for Bonnie and a box of Marcy's favourite chocolates and a few things for the house they'd agreed to get together. It was when Marcy came to the very last present under her side of the tree, a smallish box that rustled a little when she shook it, that Bonnie's tell-tale grin gave her away.

"Babe? What did you buy?" Marcy asked suspiciously.

"Look at the label." Bonnie replied with a cryptic smile. Marcy did, and felt her eyes fill up just a little as she read it.

 _To our beautiful son and daughter,_

 _Looks like Santa got confused and sent your presents even though you're not here yet. I bet your Mum will open them and keep them safe for you though._

 _Lots of love,_

 _From Mama xxx_

"What did you get for them? Bon? Are you trying to make me cry at Christmas? Because that's mean." Marcy sniffled, already opening the package. Out slide two tiny, baby sized pairs of bright red boots that were identical to Marcy's favourite ones.

"Thought you might want something awesome to bring them home from the hospital in." Bonnie explained when Marcy failed to say anything. She just stared down at the boots with suspiciously watery eyes. "I got something else for you, too."

Marcy looked up and Bonnie produced a box from behind the sofa, cunningly hidden under one of the blankets Peppermint liked to sleep in back there. Marcy frowned and accepted it curiously.

"Babe, I'm confused." she murmured when she opened the box to find an adult pair of the same red boots. "I already have these."

"And didn't you complain rather loudly last week that they didn't fit? I got these a size bigger and I've got the receipt so I can exchange them if they're still not right. You seemed so distraught when you couldn't get them on." Bonnie told her. "And, um, I might have gone a bit present crazy. There's something else for you, sorta for the babies too. Wait here."

Marcy watched in confusion as her girlfriend got up and went to rummage in her writing desk in the corner. After a second she straightened up and came back across to where Marcy was still sitting cross legged on the rug, something smallish and shiny cradled in her hands.

"Sorry it's not wrapped; it was a kinda last minute thing. You should thank Jake for this too since he was the one who picked it up for me because I didn't have time. It's, uh, kinda a custom order."

She lowered herself down by Marcy's side and carefully untangled a mesh of fine wires, holding the whole thing up in the glow from the Christmas tree lights so her partner could appreciate it properly. It was a mobile consisting of two intersecting pieces of willow wood and hung with a swirl of semi-precious stones and crystals that had been polished to a high shine. Marcy stared.

"It's got three different colours of amber because the woman in the shop said amber was good for giving positive energy to teething infants and relieving their pain. There's moonstone to help prevent nightmares, blue lace agate for protection and rose quartz to promote feelings of parental love and peaceful sleep. I had them make it up with all the best crystals for new babies." Bonnie told her quietly.

"Bon..." Marcy started, at a total loss for what to say. "You don't believe in this stuff. You think it's all stupid bullshit."

"Perhaps. But it's important to you, love. And I wanted to show that I was sorry for what happened the night when we had that awful row. I still feel so guilty about it." she murmured, and rested her head on Marcy's shoulder.

"It's in the past. And you didn't have to do this."

"But I wanted to. I wanted you to know I respect your beliefs. And I want our children to feel connected to their heritage, especially the side of it that I don't share. It's wrong of me to disrespect your beliefs, especially when they come from your mother's culture and that was such a big part of her life and your childhood. I was just in a very bad place that night." Bonnie replied in a voice still thick with guilt.

"I know, babe. You lost someone special to you without any warning. It'd fuck anyone up." Marcy soothed. She reached up and placed a calming hand on her partner's head, stroking her hair comfortingly.

"It's not like I've never lost a patient before. Half the kids I see at work won't make it, I know that. I've known it ever since I started working in paediatric oncology. We can't save them all, some kids just won't pull through and that's the awful truth of it. But Erin, she was special. I knew her from being a baby. I watched her grow. She was so brave and so smart and she fought right to the very end. Honestly, she was a pretty big influence on my decision to become a parent. She wasn't just another patient to me." Bonnie finally replied.

"Yeah. I know. How do you feel about 'Erin' for our girl?"

"Maybe as a middle name. It's just too soon for me. But I appreciate the gesture, love. I was thinking actually, how do you like the name Sophia?"

Marcy thought about it, rolling it around in her head while she stared unfocusedly at the glittering decorations covering their Christmas tree. Finally she nodded.

"I like it. It's like that song, it means 'the love of knowledge'. Makes a pretty good name for your daughter, babe. Sophia Erin Sugar."

"Not quite. Sophia Erin _Marceline_ Sugar." Bonnie corrected her with a small smile. "I was awake enough this morning to get that you like your own name. It is a pretty cute name, you're right."

"That's absolutely gorgeous. You don't wanna throw a 'Bonnibel' in there for good measure?" Marcy asked with an answering smile.

"Not even if there was a law passed making children share names with their parents. I've been handicapped by this terrible name since birth, I'm not making the same mistake my mother did. Which actually was to name me while the mind-bending pain relief medication was still working on her. Not that Neddy escaped with a much better name, no wonder we both turned out a little odd." Bonnie mused.

"You're awesome. Ned, not so much. But I can see that he's got a sort of dirty, sweaty, gross charm in the right light. At least he's intelligent." Marcy shrugged. "Anyway, come on and let's make breakfast. I've got an everything-slider recipe from Jake I'm just dying to try out and I figured Christmas food would be perfect to stuff it with."

With a happy yawn Bonnie allowed herself to be pulled to her feet and followed Marceline through to the kitchen where they put out some festive turkey cat food form Peppermint and Cinnamon and after a quick text exchange with Jake constructed sliders so over-filled with every kind of savoury breakfast food in the house that Bonnie had to eat hers with a knife and fork. Marcy tried to shovel the entire slider into her mouth and ended up devouring the whole thing in three bites but Bonnie didn't mind her eating like she hadn't seen food in weeks. She was still making up for not eating anything for the first few months of her pregnancy and growing two absolutely perfect babies was hungry work.

...

When they pulled up at Simon and Betty's house that afternoon it was still raining a little and the sky was a miserable leaden grey, but the cottage itself looked just like a gingerbread house with its twinkling lights and dazzlingly decorated tree in the window. Simon met them on the doorstep wearing his Santa costume like he had when Marcy was little; he'd been playing Santa at the village hall that morning and handing out small packets of candy to passing children like he did every year. Betty rolled her eyes fondly behind his back as his baritone 'ho ho ho's rang out around the bare treetops and accepted the small box of traditional gingerbread reindeer Marcy always brought for them.

"Hello girls, happy Christmas! Come inside, we're just putting the finishing touches to the dinner. Gunther, get back here!" the older woman added, eyeing the old dog suspiciously as he made to limp off through the trees. If dogs could huff he would have, it was plain from the way he slouched back towards them that he hated taking orders from anyone but Simon.

"And how are my two little darlings today?" Simon cooed to Marcy's belly the moment she took a seat in their lounge. Bonnie had insisted on getting the presents from the car since they were a little heavy and she didn't want Marcy to strain herself and Betty was bustling around in the kitchen again so it was just the two of them.

"How are we today, babies? Are we happy to see Grandpa?" Marcy asked her stomach conversationally. She hadn't realised why Simon sucked in a small breath of surprise for a moment after she said that.

"Grandpa?" he repeated quietly with huge eyes staring from behind his glasses. "You want them to call me 'Grandpa'? I thought, you know, because you still see your own father-"

"Yeah. I want them to call you 'Grandpa', Simon. I want them to know you're my Dad every bit as much as Hunson is. More, really." Marcy interrupted him with a grin. "I want you to be 'Grandpa' and Betty to be 'Grandma' and Hunson can be 'Granddaddy'. But you raised me and you loved me and I want you to be important in our children's lives too. Oh! Simon, they're kicking! Feel my bump!"

"Do you know," Simon asked quietly around the huge hug he'd wrapped Marcy into and the hand he'd hurriedly placed on her stomach, "that I couldn't be prouder of you? I have the best daughter a man could ever wish for. And the two most wonderful little grandchildren. I love all you so much, darling."

"Love you too, you big potato. Come on, presents! I didn't drive all the way out here listening to Bonnie trash talk my car the whole way just so you could make me cry happy tears. I got you some stuff! I wanna see your face when you open it."

The rest of the day was spent in their traditional way; eating Betty's amazing Christmas dinner and homemade plum pudding until everyone was joking that they had bumps too, lazing in front of the TV for a while in the evening before taking Gunther for a short limp through the woods before it was properly dark and then somehow finding space for more of the leftover turkey and cake. Marcy didn't mind, she was eating for three and besides she didn't get her foster mother's wonderful food as often as she wanted, she wasn't going to waste the opportunity. Simon and Bonnie banned her from the kitchen during the clean up so she sat with Betty in the lounge admiring the gorgeous crocheted peacock feather blanket the older woman had made for the twins. Marcy honestly couldn't remember a time recently where she'd felt so completely and utterly free from stress of any form; perhaps she hadn't realised how badly needed the holiday was. Bonnie slipped outside to call her parents for a while and came back with a huge smile on her face. She hadn't gotten around to calling them after their second scan and she'd decided to make letting them know they would be getting a granddaughter and a grandson part of their present along with the packages from her and Ned she'd posted over at the start of the month. It was amazingly cozy to snuggle up on Simon and Betty's sofa under a crocheted blanket and drink hot chocolate while It's A Wonderful Life played in the background and Simon groomed Gunther's fur by the fire.

In the end they were all in something of a turkey coma and the thought of the long drive home in the dark was severely unappealing so Bonnie and Marcy just trudged up to Marcy's old bedroom. They changed into the brand new fuzzy pyjamas they'd been gifted that afternoon before collapsing into bed together and straight into a deep, contented sleep. It was warm and safe; Marcy vaguely registered that she'd missed the smell of her old pine wood furniture and the sound of the high treetops swaying in the wind outside her bedroom window. Nothing was better than snuggling in a warm bed listening to the freezing winter weather beating uselessly against the side of the house while she was safe and snug with Bonnie's arms wrapped lovingly around her. Marceline's last thought before she slid all the way into sleep was that curled up in her girlfriend's embrace with the long-remembered noises of Simon and Betty moving around in their bedroom next door was the most comforting, most wonderful end to a Christmas Day that she could imagine. She was so lucky to have such wonderful family, such an amazing partner. Sleep finally slid over her before she'd even really realised she was exhausted and Marcy slipped into peaceful dreams of bringing the twins to see their Grandpa and Grandma in the summer when all Betty's flowers were in full bloom and the balmy air hummed with butterflies and bees.


	22. Week 22

**Boom, week 22! I'm sorry this has taken a while to update, I've been slow in general with writing for the last couple of weeks. I'm not sleeping so well tbh, just really stressed and stuff. Anyway that's whiny crap you guys don't need to worry about. I promise normal service shall resume shortly.**

 **New Year is a weird time in Britain. We have weird traditions, like First Foot. Literally a guy, usually with dark hair, symbolically carries a piece of coal through the door right after midnight for good luck. Weird.**

 **So let me make a suggestion. Go read my good pal IAmTheTrashPanda's story, The Ties That Bind Us. Seriously, go do it. Now. It's excellent! It's got everything an awesome bubbline story needs and then some! AND the author is a really cool person! Off ya go, don't say I never get you a treat ^^**

 **Content Warning: injury and blood. Nooooo. Mild references to mauling and jokes about cannibalism.**

* * *

New Year's Eve was rapidly becoming Marcy's least favourite time of the year. In fact she was completely over New Year, she thought sourly as Jake and Finn faced off over another round of cocktails. Because Jake had made her an alcohol-free Heart of Darkness Margarita but it was lame without the tequila in it and everyone else was having nice cocktails and enjoying delicious things like seafood and blue cheese which she'd been told to avoid due to the increased risk of food poisoning which might harm the babies. Still, she mused, she would go dry and eat boring stuff forever if it was for her twins. She just wished her friends would stop rubbing it in her face that they were having fun drinking and eating. There was absolutely no need for Jake to bring a blue cheese platter and a king prawn ring, she thought.

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, aaaaand ne'er brought to miiind!" Finn began to sing tunelessly.

"It's not midnight yet. Hold the singing." Marcy told him with a frown.

"I'm practicing! We can't all sound pitch perfect at the drop of a hat like _some_ professional musicians I could name." he shot back. "Besides, this is my first New Year off work since I joined the force. I'm not gonna waste it."

"Dude, if you practiced for a thousand years you'd still need to swallow a tiny computer before you could hold a tune." Marcy sighed.

"Ouch. Someone's caught a bad case of the grumpies. Luckily I spoke with a doctor earlier and she gave me the cure!" Finn grinned.

"Lay one single finger on me and I swear-"

Marceline didn't get the words out before Finn was flinging himself onto the sofa next to her and trying to tickle her, although due to his enthusiasm it was more like being sharply poked in the ribs. When Bonnie did it Marcy giggled and allowed herself to be tickled. When a large drunk man tried it she wasn't having any of it. She reacted instinctively and by the time she was back in conscious control of her limbs it was too late to stop the trajectory of her elbow before it connected with Finn's nose. They both winced at the sickening crunch of cartilage separating from bone.

"Shit, dude, I'm so sorry!" Marcy gasped as Finn fell back with a moan, blood already beginning to gush around the hands that had flown to his face.

"S'alright. My fault." he replied thickly. "Gimme a tissue?"

"Wait, hang on. I can fix this. BONNIE! WE NEED YOU IN HERE!" Marcy yelled towards the kitchen.

The redhead's face appeared a second later, frowning around the door from the hall. She sighed when she caught sight of the blood trickling onto Finn's chest and disappeared for a moment, coming back with the extensive professional first aid kit from the kitchen.

"For one night, just one, I'd like to not be a doctor. Is that too much to ask? A single night off over the holiday? What did you do?" Bonnie sighed, crouching in front of Finn and wiping the blood from his face.

"I elbowed him in the nose. He tried to tickle me." Marcy replied guiltily.

"It was his own fault. Finn's significantly less funny than he thinks he is." Lady added from where she was now perched on Jake's lap in the corner.

"Hey, c'mon, I was tryna make her laugh." Finn replied defensively around the tissues Bonnie was cleaning his face up with. She frowned and took hold of his chin to keep him from speaking more.

"Hold still." Bonnie admonished him as she pressed the bridge of his nose and made him wince. "And rule number one of being around pregnant women is not to tackle them when you're huge, strong and drunk. They've got heightened baby-defence instincts and you're a threat, psychologically speaking. Do not engage the Mama Bear. She _will_ maul you and it'll be your own fault."

"Sorry, Finn." Marcy added remorsefully.

"S'ok."

"Right, the nose is broken but it isn't displaced, it's not a serious break and it should heal in a couple of weeks so long as you don't press on it too much or get punched in the face or anything. You'll probably have some magnificent black eyes tomorrow so you'll at least be able to tell the guys you work with some fanciful lie about fighting off ninjas or something. Lady, can you grab me a bag of frozen peas and a tea towel out of the kitchen please? Finn, I want you to sit forwards and pinch just above the nostrils for ten minutes without letting go, that should stop the bleeding. Don't tilt your head backwards, you don't want the blood to fill your sinuses or get into your airways. Hold the ice pack on the bridge of the nose while you're doing it. And please, guys, if we can try not to injure each other for _one night_ , I'd really appreciate it." Bonnie said with a long suffering sigh, standing up and pulling off the bloodied examination gloves from the first aid kit.

"Thanks, Bon. Can I still drink?" Finn asked hopefully.

"Are you going to listen to me if I say no?"

"Um, well, normally I would but... it's my first New Year off work..." he trailed off hopefully. Bonnie sighed.

"Your choice, man. But I'm not being held responsible if you get trashed and make it worse."

"I don't get trashed. I'll be fine. Thanks, Bonnie! You're the best!" Finn grinned. Then he winced again and took the ice pack Lady handed him.

"Ok, just take care, right? Can I go finish loading the dishwasher while you guys loaf around now?"

Marcy heaved herself up from the sofa and followed her girlfriend back to the kitchen, apologetically sliding an arm around the redhead's waist and pulling her into a hug.

"Sorry, babe. I didn't mean to hurt him." she murmured against Bonnie's hair.

"I know. And you can't help it, it's a good thing that your instinctive reaction in a situation like that is to protect your bump. Are you ok, love? You don't seem to be in your best mood?" Bonnie replied gently.

Marcy sighed and slid her free hand through her hair in an unconscious gesture of frustration before replying.

"I guess? I just, I dunno. I don't wanna sound ungrateful but I miss not being pregnant. It took me five attempts to wrestle my socks on this morning because bending over is already getting difficult. How am I gonna cope for the next four months? And I love seeing the guys but I'm so tired and it's still two hours from midnight. I just wanted to spend the night snuggling with you and being sad."

Bonnie stared thoughtfully into space for a couple of seconds while absentmindedly stroking Marcy's cheek before a small half smile crept onto her face.

"We need a break. Like a mini holiday or something. Before you get too big to move around easily, before we have another scan or antenatal classes or anything like that. Do you fancy just having a weekend away someplace, just the two of us? We can get a nice hotel and get pampered before the babies get here and we can't do anything alone for sixteen years."

"I don't think I'm allowed on an airplane while pregnant, am I?" Marcy frowned.

"Of course you are. There's nothing wrong with flying while pregnant so long as you let the airline and insurance company know, get a letter from your doctor and are prepared to sit in a horribly uncomfortable seat for a few hours. Besides, you'd be travelling with a doctor." Bonnie added slyly.

Marcy rolled the idea around her head for a moment, considering. A break sounded nice, she did love holidays. And fancy hotels were her secret weakness. Sure, she could rough it in a tent or something and had in the past; when they'd gone on safari in Kenya a few years earlier they'd spent two weeks living in a tent and she'd coped fine. But the lure of lovely soft beds and crisp white sheets, huge two-person baths and on-site spas was strong. A weekend in an expensive hotel being pampered by highly trained professionals and spending quality time with her gorgeous girlfriend did sound pretty much like heaven.

"Ok. I'm game if you are. Do you actually wanna go to the hassle of flying somewhere or can we just jump in the car and be closer to home?" Marcy asked, smiling properly for the first time that evening.

"Wow, so subtle. Yeah, we can go somewhere closer to home if you like. I'll have a dig around when I get a spare minute and see if I can book something relaxing, some couple retreat in the country or something. We can chill out and spend all day in bed, maybe do some stuff we haven't in a while." Bonnie replied with a slightly suggestive smile. She leaned in for a quick kiss that turned into a longer and much deeper kiss that ended up being interrupted by Finn just when it was starting to get really interesting.

"Ew, could you two put each other down for five minutes? Your peas are melting on my face." he told them with an eye roll.

"You're supposed to wrap it in the towel, Finn." Bonnie sighed, taking the bag of half melted peas out of his hands and returning them to the freezer with a sublte look to Marcy that told her kissing was totally resuming later when Finn wasn't looking.

"Oh. My bad. Jake said that too but I thought he was just joshing with me." Finn replied with a shrug. His eyes were already beginning to puff out and darken a little from the broken nose.

At that second the cat flap in the back door exploded open and Cinnamon charged in like a furry hurricane, landing with a hissing mewl in Bonnie's arms with his tail fluffed out and claws tearing into her sweater in terror.

"Argh! What the hell, Cinnamon? Calm down, come on. Good kitty." Bonnie soothed once she got her surprise under control. He hadn't managed to shred her skin but that was only because she was wearing double layers in case she ended up outside. She stroked his ears to calm him a little before she continued, "Someone must have started early with the fireworks. Poor baba, come on and we'll get you some of your calm sleepy pills."

"Uh, is it ethical or even legal to drug the cat?" Finn asked worriedly.

"They're calming pills from the vet, he gets freaked out by fireworks." Bonnie replied while Marcy dug around in one of the cupboards looking for the cat medication. She handed them over and brushed her thumb gently against Bonnie's making the redhead smile a little around the squirming cat in her arms. Definitely they weren't done with the kissing, Marcy thought a little smugly.

"Hey little guy. Don't worry, I'll protect you." Finn told Cinnamon gently. He came forward and slowly offered his hand palm down for the ginger cat to cautiously sniff. After a second and despite obviously still being scared Cinnamon allowed Finn to stroke his neck. "Good kitty. Gotta be nice and calm, or you'll scare the babies."

It was a pretty nice night after that. They hung out in Marcy and Bonnie's lounge watching the traditional New Year's Eve TV including highlights of places further east around the globe with fireworks displays that were usually far superior to anything they'd been to. Jake and Lady were happily snuggled on one sofa and Marcy was sprawled with her head in Bonnie's lap on the other enjoying a distracted head massage from her girlfriend. Finn was sitting alone on the floor but he didn't mind, he was especially pleased he wasn't working that night. New Year's Eve was the worst night of the year for any kind of emergency service.

"Next year we're gonna have to watch this with the TV turned down really quiet." Bonnie observed as they watched footage of large crowds of inebriated revelers gathered in city centers around the country getting uniformly rained on. It had been horrible weather since before Christmas but still not quite cold enough to snow.

"Knowing my luck we'll miss the actual countdown to midnight anyway because of screaming babies. I can't see myself caring too much." Marcy shrugged in reply. "Anyway, it's almost midnight. I should get outside."

"Wossat?" Jake asked from the corner, looking around from where he'd been staring mushily into his new fiancée's eyes.

"First Foot. Since I have an almost certainly dark haired male on board I get to do it this year." Marcy grinned.

"You guys have weird traditions." Lady observed. "When I was a kid we just ate traditional New Year food and I bowed to my parents. But you guys celebrate a month too early anyway. Weird."

"First Foot is a good luck tradition. I dunno why I've gotta bring in a piece of coal with me but I suppose it's symbolic or something." Marcy shrugged. She stood and stretched before making for the door. Jake followed her, shrugging when he caught her questioning glance.

"I could use the air. I'm definitely turning into my Dad because instead of getting wasted I'm just a bit sleepy from the cocktails." he told her.

The rain was still a steady cold downpour, washing out Bonnie's already trashed flower beds. It wasn't like she had a lot to do in the garden over winter anyway and she'd planted her spring bulbs months earlier. As soon as she began her job-share and had more time Marcy just knew the redhead would press her into service helping outside, despite knowing her girlfriend hated getting dirty. Still, it was worth it for the summer months when the large garden was a riot of colour and beautiful blooms. Marcy was very much looking forward to sitting with the twins on a picnic blanket under the shade of the big willow tree by the hedge while Bonnie messed around doing her mysterious plant buiness.

"So hey, I wanted to ask you a favour while Lady's inside." Jake said, drawing her back from fantasies of summer with the babies.

"Sure. You've still got a ton of explaining to do about the proposal by the way, I wanna know why you waited eight years." Marcy replied.

"Oh. I waited cause I wanted her to know it was about her and me and how much I love her. Didn't want her to think I was just proposing just because I got her telepathically pregnant the first night we met. You know I went back to her place after your house party? Well I never told you this before, but we totally just cuddled and fell asleep. We put on big comfy pyjamas and everything."

"Liar."

"Hehe. Yeah, no we banged like crazy people. It was brilliant."

"Dude, gross. Your favour then?"

"Well Lady has this idea about what she wants her wedding to be like and that's another reason why I waited. I wanted it to be absolutely perfect and with five tiny pupsters running around the place it's been difficult to save any pennies at all. But that is all about to change. You remember the day you had to get Junior cause I was doing a thing at work?" Jake asked with a sly grin.

"Yeah? It was some foodie reviewer from the local paper, right?" Marcy replied carefully. She had no idea what that had to do with anything but she was willing to hear him out.

"Not the local paper. _The Guardian._ Big-ass national and in some cases _international_ paper world famous for their food reviews and recommendations."

"I know what _The Guardian_ is, Bonnie reads it over breakfast because she's just so breathtakingly leftie middle class like that. So when does the review come out? Did they give you a thumbs up?"

"You could say. They did a special feature on Treehouse in their New Year Review section. They said it was one of the top ten restaurants in the country. Uh, we're already fully booked until the end of February." Jake replied with a grin so huge that Marcy was surprised the top of his head didn't fall off.

"Oh my God, Jake! That's incredible!" she squealed, overcome with joy for him. She flung her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug just as the boom of fireworks split the air from every direction.

"I'm looking to open another venue too, maybe get a local franchise going. Anyway, that's why I can afford a big wedding now. And Lady wants to dance, like in films. So you gotta teach me to dance." Jake continued, hugging her back.

"Me? Dude, I can't dance. I can play any waltz you want but do you know how hard it is to dance and simultaneously play the double bass? You should ask Bonnie though, it's one of those bizarre skills she picked up from growing up on military bases with her Dad. Kick boxing, ice skating, horse riding and ballroom dancing. She's such a weirdo." Marcy added fondly. The door behind them opened and the redhead in question poked her head out at them both.

"You forgot your coal. Are you coming inside or not? It's midnight already." she told her partner, holding out the lump of dusty black rock that would apparently bring luck to their house for the whole of the next year if a dark haired man carried it inside.

"Sorry. We were talking. Come on then, Bumplings. Time to learn some bizarre old traditions." Marcy said fondly to her stomach. She took the coal from Bonnie's outstretched palm and tucked it under her sweater so it was resting against her bump. That way the baby was symbolically 'carrying' it into the house. Besides, with the way her stomach was sticking out now he'd be across the threshold before her anyway so technically they were still following the good luck tradition. Marcy checked the coal was secure and stepped carefully back through the door, removing the itchy chunk of rock the moment she was back inside. Jake followed her back through to the lounge where Finn was drunkenly singing tunelessly again and hugging everyone.

"For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne! We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet. For auld lang syne! Woo! Happy New Year!" he finished with a massive grin. He made as though to hug Marcy but checked himself at the last second, letting his outstretched arms fall back to his sides almost comically. "Uh, is it ok if I hug you?"

"Come here you massive idiot." Marcy replied happily, flinging her arms around his waist and pulling him into a hug. "Sorry I broke your nose."

"Pft, that was last year! I've forgotten about it already." he replied as he hugged her back.

It was probably their age catching up with them but the others didn't stay so long after midnight, by the time one in the morning rolled around Finn was snoring on the sofa and Lady was making noises about getting home because it wasn't fair to leave Joshua sitting waiting up for them until dawn. Bonnie carefully tucked a blanket over Finn, figuring he'd be perfectly fine there until morning, hugged Jake and Lady goodbye and helped her weary girlfriend into bed. Before she slept she lay with her head against the bump, listening to the tiny noises that were probably intestines working but just might be from their babies wriggling around.

"Goodnight my tiny sweethearts. Sleep well. It's a whole new year now, you're closer than ever to meeting us properly." she whispered, stroking the taut skin carefully.

"You're so cute with them." Marcy murmured, eyes half closed already. "Can't wait to see you cuddle them. I might die from love."

For weeks now they'd automatically slept in the same position, Bonnie wrapped protectively around Marcy with both their hands resting against her stomach. It was rapidly becoming Bonnie's favourite way to fall asleep. That was the last thought she remembered having after turning off the light; that no matter how far in the future it was hugging Marcy from behind would always remind her of that magical time when they were expecting their twins.

…

Bonnie was back to work by the second of January but Marcy was off until the following week when her postgrads would be performing their Guildhall recital. She'd normally have been in full rehearsal mode herself but really they weren't playing anything she didn't know almost note perfectly from memory and besides every time she was getting into her swing with a piece of music the babies woke up and started moving around like crazy. She wasn't sure if they liked the music or if it made them agitated but they were very distracting. Marcy had been about to maybe do some laundry and clean the oven out of pure boredom when a voice from the hall caught her attention and she sighed. He'd just let himself in without knocking again, it was lucky she wasn't the sort of person who walked around naked when she was alone.

"Hey! Hello? Anyone home? I got something for you! Marcy?"

"In the kitchen." she called back, shaking her head and putting down the laundry basket. Finn walked in and grinned at her; she didn't even bother telling him off for just turning up unannounced.

"Hey. I got you lunch." he told her, holding up a paper bag.

"Hey, potato-face. You look like a panda." Marcy greeted him, nodding at the two purpling bruises covering his eye sockets. "What did you get?"

"I remembered you like sushi and there was a pop-up street restaurant in town! So I got us a platter to share!" Finn grinned enthusiastically. Oh. Oh shit. There was literally no way she could avoid that kicked-puppy look that Finn excelled at that she was gonna have to cause for him.

"Er, I really appreciate the thought, man. I do. But I can't eat sushi right now." Marcy muttered awkwardly.

"Oh. Dieting again? Isn't that bad for the babies? But sushi isn't exactly unhealthy." he replied in confusion.

"No-o, but it's raw fish. And raw fish is one of those things that you can easily get food poisoning from."

"But sushi is prepared by the very finest chefs in Japan, it's barely even handled and it's made using the freshest ingredients possible. I even checked that these ones don't have garlic so you don't inflate like a pool toy."

"In Japan sushi is prepared to the very highest standards. But in the UK at some random street pop-up I'm gonna guess it's not being made by a highly trained expert. Sorry dude, I know you tried but I'm gonna have to pass on the sushi. You have it, I'll make myself a sandwich or something." Marcy sighed, disappointed. She did love sushi and she appreciated Finn dropping by on his day off to keep her company when she was bored at home but watching him eat yet more food she wasn't gonna be able to have for ages was pretty disheartening.

"I'm not gonna be able to manage two portions of sushi and two portions of waffles on my own. I like food as much as anyone, maybe not as much as Jake, but-"

"Wait. What? Waffles?"

"Uhh, yeah? With chocolate sauce and banana pieces. But if you're worried about restaurant food giving you food poisoning-

"Finn, I'm gonna ask nice and calmly, just the one time. Give me the waffles and nobody has to get hurt."

He backed away a little because the expression on Marceline's face wasn't completely sane and she was eyeing him quite like she might rip his skull open and eat his brains if she didn't get the waffles she'd politely requested in an eerily calm tone. He handed the bag of food over hurriedly, holding it at arm's length and letting go as quickly as possible when she made to grab it.

"Chocolate banana waffles. You're a lucky man, Finn Madigan. I was definitely about to cannibalise you but I don't think you taste as good with banana as they do. You wanna grab a beer to wash your salmonella down with?" Marcy beamed at him, already grabbing plates and cutlery for them.

"Uh, I think drinking beer with sushi is technically an affront to all Japanese culture ever?" he hazarded.

"I'm pretty sure what you've got in here is an affront to Japanese culture anyway. It's an affront to any culture. How can you think this is good sushi?" Marcy asked, frowning down at the cheap plastic tray of sloppy, lumpy rice wraps.

"The girl working there was cute." he muttered, blushing.

"I see. So trouser-Finn was doing the thinking again? Smooth. You didn't make up with Phoebe?"

"She said she just wants to cool off and be friends for now. I don't wanna be her friend. I wanna be... I dunno, last time I opened up you laughed at me."

"I did not!"

"The time before then. I dunno, I suck at words. And memory. And keeping a girlfriend, apparently." he sighed, following her through to the dining table and picking up a messy sushi roll with his fingers as he took his seat. It fell apart halfway to his mouth and Marcy snorted around her enormous bite of waffle.

"You want a spoon to scoop that up with?" she inquired after swallowing her mouthful.

"Shut up."

"Seriously dude. Give her time, stop chasing girls who can't even assemble a halfway decent sushi roll. Maybe just be on your own for a while, get to know yourself."

"I thought the being alone and getting to know yourself thing was just something girls said to politely let down guys."

"Hm, yeah probably. I dunno. If I didn't wanna date anyone when I was single I just told them to get lost."

They lapsed into silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Normally the cats would have been tearing through the walls to get at anything even slightly fish scented but today they were nowhere to be seen. Marcy took that as a sign that her intuition had been right and the sushi was basically guaranteed to make her sick. She slyly patted her bump; the babies might make her maddeningly hungry most of the time but they were an excellent excuse to avoid the kind of bad food Finn was prone to buying. She finished both helpings of waffles in record time, trying to ignore the nagging voice in the back of her head that sounded a lot like Bonnie and told her she was supposed to be eating a healthy, balanced diet. Then because Finn showed no sign of wanting to go away, possibly ever again, they settled on the sofa together to play video games and watch Finn's choice of cheesy cop movies. By the time he finally left it was dark and Bonnie would be home soon. Marcy slid her phone out of her pocket and wrote a message to Jake.

 _Im worried about Finn he turned up today and hung around for hours I think this break up with Phoebe is really getting to him he seems so lonely also if he offers to buy you sushi DONT DO IT ITS A TRAP!_

It was the next evening before Jake even had a second to answer, what with looking around potential new premises, debuting his new lunch menu and cooking so much food he had to add an extra delivery to their weekly schedule or they'd be wiped out long before the weekend. The glowing review had worked wonders; often at Treehouse the hours between lunch and the evening rush were absolutely dead. So much so that Jake had had plenty of time to teach Kim and Charlie the basics of cheffing and even let them assist with putting together the odd customer order. But now he was so busy in the kitchen that the day blurred as it rushed past him, he'd had to call his father to come help out because they were so busy that even a full staff couldn't keep up. Not that Joshua minded, he was as proud as a lion and had already had a copy of Jake's review framed.

He finally got a moment to text Marceline between flipping the chairs and sweeping the floor.

 _I know he already told me about the sushi and how you're too picky for your own good and it didn't matter if it was messy because it was delicious. I don't think Finn understands the concept of food as art or that sushi is all about presentation and the finest ingredients. He texted me this morning to tell me he'd called in sick to work, mysteriously he's got a horrible stomach bug from somewhere. I wonder if he understands the concept of karmic irony?_

Marcy had already told her girlfriend about Finn's adventures in poisoning himself when she'd come home from work the night before and as bad as they both felt about him getting sick they were still giggling over his adorable lack of forethought hours later. It was classic Finn; his boundless enthusiasm and innocence were some of his most endearing traits, Marcy thought to herself that night as Bonnie talked nonsense to her bump again. If Phoebe wanted to think those things made him too immature for her then it was her loss. Bonnie had been totally right that night in the pub when they'd first met the other redhead. Finn was the last true gentleman and Phoebe clearly didn't know what she was missing out on.


	23. Week 23

**Guys it's been too long. Toooooo looooooong. I'm so sorry. I've had a ton of personal stuff going on that I may at some point rant about on my tumblr (pplleessiioossaauurr) but I won't bore you all with here. But anyway, on with the show! I've not updated in too long, now things are a little better and my updates will be more regular again. I've got a lot of stuff to write and you've got a lot of reading to do in the near future!**

 **PLUG TIME! Nah seriously, go check out my pal IAmTheTrashPanda's story The Ties That Bind Us! It's getting intense! DRAMA BOMB INTENSE! Seriously if you only read one fic rec today let it be this one.**

 **Notes on this chapter: I did a lot of research on cars to save you the trouble, but I'm not an expert. So if you personally think a Volvo XC90 sucks then sorry but that's what they chose. Also the P53 tumour suppressor gene activation pathway is both fascinating and complicated as balls. Seriously, just do a quick google image search. Hats off to anyone who could draw that from memory cause I certainly can't. And! I'm supremely thrilled to discover that pregnancy massage is a thing! Given that every fertile female I know appears to be contracting babies at a worrying rate I might just have to learn how to do it. The Thor thing isn't mine, I stole that from tumblr. Sorry. But it was cute so I had to include it. Sorry it's a long chapter!**

 **Content Warning: jerk exes, historical violence, moodiness, implied elder coitus, intimacy issues.**

* * *

It was a grey, rainy day that perfectly matched Marcy's grey, rainy mood. She'd agreed though, couldn't put it off forever. So with a sigh she petted the wheel of her old car fondly before following Bonnie out of the vehicle and into the shiny showroom where a salesman was waiting for them with a slimy smile. Time to pick a new car, not that she thought she'd be allowed much choice. Not when Bonnie had been up half the night before researching and muttering to herself, making copious notes and putting together a spread sheet of composite review scores from different websites. Marcy had gotten bored after the first ten minutes and gone to rehearse before bed. The last thing she'd heard was the frantic tapping of laptop keys and muttering about torque and hybrid on-demand engine requirements. Amazingly Bonnie was cheerful and enthusiastic when the alarm went off that morning despite it still being dark out and her having had a minimal amount of sleep. She was going to look at cars and they were one of her secret passions.

Bonnie had tried to explain it plenty of times over the years. Cars were simple, predictable machines that performed how you wanted them to so long as all their parts were assembled exactly how they should be. After the complexities involved in even basic pharmacological interactions in paediatric oncology the modern internal combustion engine was child's play. Cars were almost Zen-like in their simplicity and as well as that they were so much fun to drive. Every time she tried to explain that to Marcy though the taller woman just shook her head in defeat, she completely failed to see how mechanics could be soothingly simple. Bonnie had even drawn a brief diagram one time to show how a car's engine was very basic compared to the mechanism of regulation of the P53 tumour suppressor gene via MAPK protein kinases. Marcy had stared at her like she'd started speaking a foreign language and refused to believe that Bonnie hadn't just made up the P53 diagram because 'nothing can be that complicated, not even medicine'. She'd have been hurt but Marceline could skim read a symphony and then play it note perfect while Bonnie was still trying to figure out what all the squiggly music symbols meant, so obviously they had different talents when it came to understanding complex stuff.

"What about this one?" her partner's voice interrupted her idle musings. Bonnie turned to look at the car Marcy had stopped in front of.

"Nope. That's a Ford, we're not buying a Ford. They're unreliable." Bonnie replied with a frown. Marcy rolled her eyes and was about to reply with something witty and biting but the salesman beat her to it.

"How can I help you ladies? You seem like you know exactly what you need." he asked in an oily voice.

"We're looking for a decent sized family car with plenty of room to carry large, bulky luggage. Half an orchestra sometimes. I need it to have good acceleration and whatever your top spec is on the fine details, preferably a hybrid or something with low emissions and ideally four wheel drive. Oh we'll need the best safety spec you have too. We liked the look of the Volvo XC90 so perhaps you've got one we can test drive?" Bonnie replied brightly. The salesman's face was an absolute picture, clearly he hadn't expected her to know what she was actually looking for.

"Uh, yeah. Right this way." he replied after a long moment of surprised silence.

Marcy trailed after them with a hand on her bump and a wince for the dull aching in her lower back that had been constantly there since the New Year. She had no idea what a Volvo XC90 even looked like but she rolled her eyes when they stopped in front of a huge beast of an SUV anyway. Of course it was more like a futuristic tank than a car, as if Bonnie was gonna let her drive their children around in anything that couldn't survive a direct hit from a nuclear bomb. It didn't look too bad, she supposed. At least it'd be big enough to carry both kids and a few different instruments if she packed them carefully. Still wasn't as cool as her old car though, Marcy thought a little sulkily.

Actually the new car was a pretty smooth ride, she conceded as Bonnie backed it carefully off the forecourt and took them around the block for a test drive. And it accelerated well and the brakes were pretty sharp and dammit it was a really nice car. Marcy sighed sulkily out of the window as they breezed down the street.

"This is a really good car." she admitted moodily.

"Isn't it? I wasn't convinced they'd make a Volvo with decent handling and acceleration but I was willing to compromise on performance for the added safety features. It's not as bad a deal as I'd thought it would be. It's got a decent amount of punch even with just the four cylinders although I must admit I miss the sport performance of the Jaguar. Overall it feels more like a luxury family cruiser than a true SUV but I don't really think that's such a bad thing." Bonnie replied happily.

"I know you're taking but all I can hear is 'blah blah car, blah blah engine, blah blah I'm a motor nerd'." Marcy shot back.

"Ooh someone's in a mood. You donked my car and forced me to drive your horrible tin-can-on-wheels for weeks, this is the price you pay. Do you wanna give this thing a try?" Bonnie replied with another happy smile that refused to be dimmed by her partner's bad humour. Marcy just shrugged and sighed in reply before sliding from the passenger seat and reluctantly around to the driver's side when the redhead pulled over. Even the seat was too comfortable, Marcy thought with a sour frown.

There was no denying the car was luxurious. It glided over the road like they were flying, the hybrid engine making it an almost eerily silent ride. Eventually Marcy sighed and nodded. Bonnie had been watching her out of the corner of her eye and her grin grew wider.

"So you like this one then?" the redhead prodded after a long silence.

"Yeah, I guess it's ok." she sighed back.

"Good. We'll get a deposit down and sort out the paperwork then once we get the keys you can follow me to the garage in our new car while I drop the Jaguar off for a respray on the paintwork."

"Sure." Marcy agreed reluctantly, pulling back onto the showroom forecourt. She slouched out of the vehicle and immediately took a seat in the waiting area while Bonnie sorted out of the paperwork, trusting the redhead would call her over when she needed to sign something. She was tired still and yes, in a grouchy mood for no reason.

"Hey guys." Marcy whispered to her bump. "You still donking around with my hormones? Cause for the last week or so you've been making Mummy feel like crap. And the awful weather doesn't help either. Urgh, and your Mama is so enthusiastic about this stupid car that it's taking everything I have not to just tell her to shut up about it. You don't wanna hear your mothers fight again though, right? So I'm trying to just swallow my irritation and let her have her fun. She's got a lot on right now, you know? Anyway we're gonna go for a night at a spa hotel this weekend and that'll cheer me up. I can't use the sauna right now but I can have a pregnancy massage, whatever that involves. I hope it fixes my back, I've not slept properly in ages and-"

"Marcy, come on you need to sign this." Bonnie called over to her, and with a frown she heaved herself up and made her way across to sign the documents.

…

Marcy sighed and flipped her pillow yet again, wriggling around to try to get comfortable. She squinted in irritation when the lamp on Bonnie's night stand was unexpectedly flicked on.

"What's wrong now? You've been rolling around all night and I don't want to be annoyed with you but some of us are trying to sleep." the redhead groused with a bleary frown. Marcy sighed again and sat up.

"I can't get comfortable. And I'm tired but I can't sleep." she replied after a second. Next moment there were warm arms sliding around her shoulders and Bonnie rested her head on the top of her back.

"Anything I can do to help?" she murmured in a voice that had gone from sleepy to suggestive in an instant. Marcy felt a warm hand slide along her thigh and there was no mistaking Bonnie's intention that time. She shrugged the redhead off uncomfortably.

"No, I, not tonight. Sorry babe. I just feel... I dunno. Mega unsexy right now." she muttered awkwardly.

"Oh. OK. I don't want you to feel pressured. Is there anything I can do?" Bonnie asked carefully. She was trying to not be hurt, having her advances rejected wasn't something she was used to but then neither of them had really been prepared for how Marcy's hormones would affect her.

"No. Just go back to sleep, babe. You've got a long day tomorrow and so do I." Marcy replied with a sigh. She lay back down and stared blankly into the darkness again for a long time after Bonnie switched her lamp off and rolled away from her a little huffily.

Next thing Marcy was aware of the alarm clock was screaming at them from the gloom and she _absolutely_ didn't want to get out of her warm, cozy bed. However upset Bonnie might have been in the night it hadn't stopped the redhead from unconsciously seeking her out like always; there were arms and an odd leg wrapped tightly around her and Marcy felt far too comfortable to move.

"Mm, morning. D'you sleep well?" Bonnie asked fuzzily as she switched the alarm off and pushed waves of hair out of her face.

"Yeah. Sorry about last night." Marcy replied softly. She took hold of the redhead's arm and pulled her gently back down into the blankets, wrapping her in a close hug and and half cradling her against the taller woman's chest. Bonnie didn't protest, she just let her arms slide up around Marcy's neck and enjoyed the closeness.

"Apology accepted. You're just getting a double dose of January blues and hormone sads. It'll pass, love. Besides the new car is coming this afternoon and I'm gonna need you to drive me home from the garage once I've got the Jag in for its bodywork. Can you meet me there about five?"

"Mhm, I should be done before then. Not too many lectures on my rota today and the quartet have been rehearsing without me over Christmas, I should in theory be able to just slide back in without too much trouble. And nobody's judging my performance anyway. I'm just there for accompaniment."

"Let me know when that is and I'll make sure I don't overrun at work."

"Tuesday. It's next Tuesday, Bon. I told you this weeks ago." Marcy replied with a roll of her eyes. Whatever, she'd make sure to email Lydia about it so the secretary could put something onto Bonnie's schedule for the day. It's not like she hadn't known for the last eight years that the redhead was prone to forget anything not directly related to her own job. "Anyway, come on. You've got interviews and I have lectures. Really not looking forward to seeing my useless first years again but with any luck the really bad ones will have dropped out over the break."

Bonnie disappeared to do her usual morning yoga routine while Marcy wandered around the kitchen humming to herself and fixing them some breakfast. She did feel a little better than she had for the week previous, especially when the babies began to dance around in the bump again and Cinnamon jumped onto her shoulder to ride around while she cooked. By the time her girlfriend reappeared in the kitchen and the coffee machine whirred to a halt there was a stack of perfectly crisp wholemeal toast waiting for her next to a pot of Betty's high coveted three-berry jam. Bonnie claimed the toast and they took their breakfast through to the dining room with Cinnamon still swaying along proudly on Marcy's shoulder.

"I've only got three candidates for the job-share interview." Bonnie told her conversationally as they ate. "Angela, obviously, some guy who's coming from miles away and Dr Princess again. You remember her, right? The locum who covered King's rotation when he was suspended?"

"Mm, yeah I remember. Tough call, sounds like you wish you could employ Angela and Princess. Sure you've got no room on your staff for both of them?" Marcy asked.

"I wish. No, we're barely scraping by on-budget as it is. I'd have to fire King to make room for another full time doctor and unfortunately the hospital directors aren't keen to get rid of him despite his obvious unprofessional attitude. I've come to the conclusion that he must have nudes of someone on the board of directors."

Marceline half choked on her tea at that and Bonnie thumped her politely on the back while she attempted to clear her airways.

"Bonnie! Geez, give a woman a little warning? That was not a mental image I need before eight in the morning!" Marcy spluttered once she could breathe again.

"You don't know what the board of directors look like." the redhead pointed out.

"Old, white, wrinkly straight dudes who reek of expensive cologne and privilege?"

"Oh, you have met them?"

"They must all have a seat on the university board too, I've met more than a few of those kinds of guys. Met one, met the lot. You should see the look on their faces when they discover the new hire lecturer they're shaking hands with is a young, gay, half-Indian musician. Also that she's female. And not wearing a skirt-suit. I think I gave more than one of them palpitations." Marcy replied with a sly smile.

Bonnie dropped a proud kiss onto her head as she stood to take the breakfast things back to the kitchen.

"My little rebel. I gotta run now though, love. I need to get changed and get to work so I've got time to do my rounds before the candidates show up." Bonnie called back over her shoulder. She was halfway up the stairs already. Marcy hadn't even finished loading the dishwasher and feeding the cats before the redhead was pressing a hasty kiss to her lips and hurrying out of the front door ten minutes later.

"Bye, have a good day, see you tonight."

And she was gone, leaving Marcy to sigh to herself and trudge off to take a quick shower before she battled the gale-force winds on the walk to work.

…

"You, uh, want a cup of coffee or something?" the mechanic asked for the third time. Bonnie shook her head, beginning to lose patience with his insistent badgering. Why he couldn't leave her alone to just wait for her ride she didn't know.

"No, thank you. My partner will be along to get me soon." she told him again.

"I can give you a lift somewhere if you want. A guy leaves a pretty lady like you waiting around in the rain, he can't be surprised if you find your own way home." the mechanic added with a smirk.

" _She_ will be here soon, she's just waiting for our new car delivered and then she'll be right over." Bonnie told him with a frown.

The mechanic just leered at her again, smiling in what he probably thought was a charming way and running a hand through his bristling blonde hair. He accidentally streaked it with engine grease and Bonnie had to look away to hide her laugh. She was uncomfortable standing outside the garage waiting for Marcy while he locked up and apparently decided the chivalrous thing to do was wait with her and hit on her with diminishing subtlety.

"It's still warm inside if you wanna come around the back with me-"

"THERE! No, thanks, there's my lift!" Bonnie all but yelled when she saw the sweep of unmistakable headlights around the corner. She grinned in relief when she saw Marcy's face illuminated under the street lights. The new car stopped in front of her a little abruptly, apparently Marcy wasn't used to the sensitive new breaks yet.

"Hey babe, sorry I was late." she said as she opened the driver door to let Bonnie take the wheel. "They tried to deliver to number seventeen instead of us, I think the teenage boy who lives there thought his parents had bought him a new car as a surprise present. Imagine his disappointment when I came across the street and-"

"Mar Mar?"

She stopped and whipped around, staring at the mechanic that she hadn't spared a second glance for. He was tall, thin, blonde and somehow familiar. It took her a moment to place his face.

"Oh, wow. Hey. Uh, this is a surprise." Marcy stammered. "Bon, this is Ash. We went to school together."

"Like, primary school?" Bonnie asked with a frown.

"No, we were at private school together." Marcy replied. She didn't miss the way her partner's eyes swept over the rather derelict looking garage again and silently agreed; Ash's fancy education had clearly been a waste of money.

"I've not seen you in years, Mar Mar. What are you up to these days?" Ash pressed. She fidgeted a little uncomfortably, not wanting to stand around a rainy street chatting with her stupid ex boyfriend.

"Lecturing. I took music at uni, got myself a PhD in orchestral artistry, toured around with various orchestras and about two years ago I quit touring and came home to lecture. Steady pay, decent hours. It worked better for us." she indicated her and Bonnie with a hand gesture that came to rest on the bump very obviously straining the bottom of her sweater to its limit. Ash's mouth moved into a silent 'oh' of surprise.

"Um, wow. Congratulations. And, um, the two of you..?"

"We've been together for eight years." Bonnie informed him smoothly as she slid an arm around Marceline and pulled her just little closer. "Come on, love. We should get home."

"Yeah. Nice seeing you, Ash." Marcy nodded awkwardly as she moved around to the passenger door.

"You too. Congratulations again. Say hi to your father next time you see him, he never mentioned you were expecting." Ash called as Bonnie rolled the window back up and revved the engine before pulling away from the kerb. They were barely out of earshot before Marcy bust into laughter.

"OH HELL DID YOU SEE HIS FACE?" she howled.

"Ash? _The_ Ash? The one you dated when you were fifteen? The one you broke up with my sending him a birthday card saying 'guess who's gay: your ex girlfriend' on the inside?" Bonnie asked incredulously.

"The one and only. So he's a mechanic now? Bon, the private school we both went to cost more per year than this car. Ash must have fucked up utterly to end up running a garage. We had compulsory Latin lessons, half my classmates are in government by now." Marcy replied, still laughing.

"Hey, did he say your father didn't mention the twins? Does that mean Ash spoke to your father recently?" Bonnie asked thoughtfully. Marcy's laughter finally quietened.

"Lemme call the old bastard, that's not cool." she frowned.

"He might just have taken his car in for a service or something." Bonnie pointed out.

"No, he always uses the service plan from the garage he bought it from. I'm gonna call him."

"At least wait until we're home." Bonnie sighed. Marcy scowled but nodded and stayed silent for the rest of the drive.

Once they were home she immediately pulled her phone out and dialled for her father's house. The line rang for so long that she thought he must be out before a slightly breathless voice answered, not the one she'd been expecting. Marcy pulled a disgusted face.

"Hello?"

"TT. Hi. It's Marcy, is my father around?"

"Just one second dear, oh it's so weird that you called, I was just thinking about you."

Marcy cringed, that was absolutely revolting. The older woman sounded out of breath and Marceline had no interest in finding out why but she was willing to bet it wasn't because she'd been using an exercise bike.

"Hunny Pie! It's your daughter on the phone!" TT called to someone in another room. Marcy's disgusted expression made Bonnie mouth 'what's wrong?' at her in concern; she just shook her head. She didn't feel equal to explaining that her father, the most serious man she'd ever known, had acquired himself a girlfriend who called him _Hunny Pie_.

"Hello Pumpkin." her father's jovial voice pulled her out of her horrified thoughts.

"Don't you 'pumpkin' me, Daddy. What's this I've been hearing about you having a nice friendly chat with Ashley Goldsmith?" Marcy growled. She could almost hear her father beginning to sweat nervously.

"Well, I was settling down to watch the news when the doorbell rang and I thought to myself, well I wonder who this is? So I got up-"

Marcy slid her mobile away from her face and covered the microphone for a second, confident that she wasn't going to miss anything important with her father's story.

"Apparently Daddy had a surprise visitor and he never thought to tell me about it. I bet you my first born it was bloody Ash." she whispered to Bonnie.

"Urgh, why does he think it's ok to visit your father? That's so weird and inappropriate!"

"I know, right?"

Marcy put the phone back to her ear just in time to catch the end of the story.

"-and would you believe who was standing there, it was that lovely boy you used to date in school! You used to be so close, do you remember?"

"Yes Daddy. I remember." Marcy forced out past clenched teeth. "Any particular reason he turned up like a lost puppy on your doorstep or has literally nothing happened to him in the last decade and a half?"

"He's working at a garage now, he's an assistant mechanic! And his car was off the road so he thought he'd walk the scenic route and say hello. Do you know he has a little girl now? He showed me pictures, she looks so much like her father." Hunson continued, oblivious to his daughter's less than cheerful tone.

"I'm sorry to hear that, getting stuck looking like Ash isn't a good start in life."

"Marceline, be nice. He's a lovely boy and you weren't exactly kind to him."

"He wasn't exactly kind to me, Daddy! He-" she stopped herself, ancient shame flooding her. She'd never once told her father that Ash had hit her when he'd opened his joke birthday card. Or that she'd ended up breaking his nose in retaliation. The letter the school had sent home was addressed to Simon and Betty anyway and they'd simply agreed that while it hadn't been a particularly funny prank to play on him their daughter was well within her rights to defend herself. Hunson still had no idea about it though.

"He was a different person when he was with me." Marcy finished with a sigh.

"Well Pumpkin, I couldn't slam the door in his face now could I? And besides the man was asking for money, he wanted me to join in on a business venture he had running. I'm afraid I turned him down and he left empty handed." Hunson replied in a tone that suggested his characteristic frown was back in place.

"At least you still have your business sense. I just wish you'd told me about it at the time, Daddy." Marcy frowned.

"Should it come up again you'll be the first one to know." he promised solemnly. Marcy wasn't completely certain if he was teasing her or not. "While I have you on the phone, Pumpkin, do you and Bonnibel feel like coming over for dinner this Saturday?"

"We're away Daddy, going for a Spa break before I get too huge to enjoy a massage."

"Oh, well another time then. So long as you're looking after yourself and my grandchildren. And Bonnibel too, she works so hard. Send her my regards."

"I will. Bye, Daddy."

She hung up with a shake of her head, putting her mobile back on the coffee table before she slid down next to her girlfriend on the sofa.

"Daddy says hello and hopes you're taking care of yourself. Guess what? He had dinner with Ash. What a weirdo. And apparently Ash has a kid with someone and he was trying to sell Daddy on some dodgy business deal." Marcy said.

"What a fucking creep." Bonnie sighed. "He was also hitting on me relentlessly until you turned up. Urgh, and I have to get the car back from him next week."

"But did you see his face when it clicked that I'm your _girlfriend?_ Oh man..." Marcy added with a giggle.

They were still grinning over it by the time they went to bed that night and had decided to just be disgustingly romantic when they went to get Bonnie's car, see if they could break Ash's brain with lesbian cuteness.

…

Saturday dawned freezing cold and even greyer than the rest of the week had been. Marcy was grudgingly thankful that the new car had built-in seat warmers as they left the outskirts of town and drove out into the bare, half-flooded fields of the countryside. Somewhere between work, interviews, researching and buying a new car and all the associated paperwork Bonnie had somehow also had time to get them a last minute deal at a county mansion converted into a fancy spa hotel. Marcy had to admit as they pulled up on the gravel driveway that sometimes her girlfriend went through just 'wonderful' and right out the other side.

"This place looks expensive." she said quietly as they made their way inside.

"It is. But you deserve it." Bonnie replied simply, sparing an affectionate smile for her girlfriend as they waited to check in.

"Babe, I thought we were saving for the babies?" Marcy asked worriedly.

"Yeah, we are. There's a joint savings account where a portion of both our pay goes specifically for them. And another savings account for us as a retirement fund. And a few more bits and pieces put aside in case something unexpected happens. And all the bills are more than covered. This is coming out of my monthly luxuries fund, we can afford it. Love, relax. This is why I handle the money." Bonnie told her gently. Marcy just shook her head with a sigh.

"If you ever leave me I'll probably freeze to death when they cut of the gas and electric to the house because I forgot to pay it." Marcy replied regretfully.

"Lucky I'm staying for good then." Bonnie nodded, still smiling. Just then the assistant came to the front desk and Marcy let her handle the business of checking in with her usual efficient manner.

They dumped their bags in the rather lovely bedroom and Bonnie dragged Marceline straight down to the spa for an afternoon of massage, face masks, manicures and a full body wrap with peaceful meditation background music. Marcy could feel the accumulated stress of long months disintegrating and disappearing with every slow, serene breath that she took. Maybe if this was how it made her feel she could understand why Bonnie took the time to meditate every morning.

That night the stress returned though, at least a little. It was after a peaceful walk around the grounds to see the first heads of snowdrops pushing through the leaf litter, a delicious dinner in the in-house restaurant that Marcy resolved to downplay when she told Jake about it in case he got territorial and another session of 'pregnancy' massage that was very wonderful but didn't feel so different from regular massage expect that she lay comfortably curled onto her side to avoid putting any pressure on her bump. Marcy was feeling tired again so they went up to bed quite early. It was only as she was changing into her pyjamas that it occurred to her that Bonnie usually didn't go to the effort of booking a mini break at a gorgeous hotel and then just expect to cuddle when they got into bed. Marcy pulled her pyjama shirt a little nervously over her bump and tried not to feel too anxious at the prospect. Perhaps Bonnie wouldn't notice if she switched the lights off first, at least.

No, when she came back through from the bathroom it was to find her partner lying in bed very clearly without any pyjamas of her own and smiling at her in a less than innocent way.

"Hello there gorgeous. I thought perhaps you'd like to destress a little more privately?" Bonnie purred as Marcy sat nervously on the edge of the bed. Next second Bonnie's hands were slipping under the edge of her shirt and her lips were pressingly warmly onto Marcy neck and she couldn't think of a way to stop the proceedings without hurting her partner's feelings so Marcy just pulled away and wrapped her arms around herself, shaking her head. Bonnie immediately back off and scrabbled the bedsheets back up to cover herself, her face a picture of shame and hurt.

"Babe, no, come on. Not like that. I just feel weird right now." Marcy begged. She reached out to the redhead but Bonnie shrugged her off and wrapped the sheets tighter around her shoulders.

"Is it me?" she asked quietly.

"No! It's my hormones and junk. And, uh, my stomach." Marcy admitted, looking down at her shirt and fiddling with the edges. "You know that magic lotion Lady gave me that worked like a miracle on her? Well it doesn't work on me. I look like Frankenstein's Monster without my shirt on."

"Oh love, come here." Bonnie said sympathetically, spreading her arms for a hug. The hurt had disappeared from her face and Marcy consented to let herself be pulled down into the bed and wrapped into a warm embrace.

"I just feel really gross right now." she mumbled, ashamed. "I look like someone ripped up my stomach and tried to glue the pieces back together."

"Please can I look? In my medical capacity." Bonnie asked gently. Marcy sighed and let the redhead slide her top up further than she had in the last couple of weeks; whenever they'd been intimate recently she'd been careful that the lights should be off or her shirt stayed on. Even in the spa she'd always made sure to keep her bump away from Bonnie's direct line of sight.

"Well?" she prompted after a length of silence.

"Yes, you have stretch marks and they're a little inflamed, but they'll fade. It's a completely normal and natural part of pregnancy, especially with twins. You've nothing to be ashamed of, love. These lines are badges of honour." Bonnie told her gently.

"But I look gross." Marcy whispered, ashamed.

"No you don't. I think you look more beautiful than ever, love. Like you've been decorated with the most delicate tattoos of lightning. Perhaps Thor took a fancy to you." Bonnie added with a smile.

"You're such a dork." Marcy sniffled. "Tell me more."

So that's how they spent the night at the fancy hotel; Marceline curled up in Bonnie's arms while the redhead spun an elaborate tale of how Thor would bless the women he thought especially beautiful and talented with the mark of his lightning, so that they would always remember they carried his chosen Viking children. By the end of the story Marcy was giggling tiredly while Bonnie pressed gentle kisses to each and every new line along her partner's hips and stomach. They fell asleep fully clothed and just cuddling contentedly.

Next morning Bonnie was woken by a squeal of delight and Marcy bouncing enthusiastically on the bed. When she stumbled to their window to see what the excitement was about she found it had snowed in the night and the grounds of their hotel were blanketed in deep, powdery whiteness. With a happy smile she helped Marceline dress warmly before they went down to breakfast and then outside to mess around in the snow together. She didn't even miss the physical intimacy, just relaxing with Marcy like that felt deeply intimate in a completely different but equally wonderful way.


	24. Week 24

**Right so you guys know the drill, yeah? I've been a cruddy author and I'm begging your forgiveness again for not updating sooner. I am well aware that I suck garlic balls. All I can say is I've been having personal stuff going on, I'm pretty sure it's all resolved now but even still, I'm sorry it's been affecting my productivity. I do have a ton of stuff in the works for you guys, I'm halfway finished on so much stuff it isn't even funny. Gonna try to finish some of it up soon and then expect me to spam you with it.**

 **Yet more notes! I've had it from a good friend and musician that the music stuff is pretty accurate? Well anyway I now have an actual musician proofing for me so I can rest easy that the bit I know next to nothing about is going smoothly. So that's a relief. Also anyone who knows why I chose Bauer as Bongo's surname gets a virtual high-five.**

 **PLUG TIME! As usual, get your butts over to IAmTheTrashPanda's fic The Ties That Bind Us. The last chapter was craaaazy!**

 **Content Warning: If your name is Nathaniel you might be a tiny bit offended. That's literally all I can think of. Dude on dude kissing, dirty jokes involving musical techniques.**

* * *

"You must be getting sick of seeing me." Marcy muttered as she rolled her shirt up for the third time. James just smiled and shook his head.

"Always nice to have regulars. Dr Sugar wasn't available to come with you today?" he asked sympathetically. Marcy sighed; she'd really hoped Bonnie could get out of work for a couple of hours just in case something unexpected happened but the redhead hadn't been able to reschedule for the day.

"Nope, she had some very important urgent cancer doctor meeting she had to be at. So I brought a friend along instead."

Finn nodded to the sonographer and waved, a little anxious from being around medical equipment. He'd developed a slight phobia of hospitals since the attack that had abruptly ended his military career and only the combination of guilt over trying to feed his friend awful sushi that had given him food poisoning and the promise of seeing his niece and nephew first-hand had gotten him to agree to come along with Marcy.

James opened his mouth to ask something, obviously thought better of it and closed it again without uttering a word. Instead he simply picked up the contact gel and squeezed some onto Marcy's bump.

"Looks kinda like a ketchup bottle." Finn volunteered, nodding at the contact gel in James' hand.

"Honestly? Most any kind of fluid would work in a pinch, this is just a solution to stabilise the ultrasound as it passes through the skin and reduce static. I've heard of it being done with a number of different gels under difficult circumstances, places in the third world and conflict zones." James replied cheerfully.

"Like Afghanistan." Finn murmured, mostly to himself. His eyes were a little distant as he stared at the floor. For a few second Marcy was certain he wasn't sitting in the hospital with her; in his mind he was still on patrol with his squad, scanning the horizon for any signs of insurgents while a sniper narrowed their sights on him from their hiding place on a nearby ridge. The ambush had cost the lives of three of Finn's squad as well as blowing an irreparable hole through his left kidney and taking a chunk of his gut and innocence with it. Marcy reached out and squeezed his hand in sympathy; she couldn't even begin to imagine what horrors her friend's PTSD were forcing him to relive.

The ultrasound screen flared to life as James began running the transducer over the bump again and Finn looked up, distracted. Then he grinned, all memories of the violent end of his life as a soldier forgotten when he worked out what he was looking at.

"Hey, there are my niece and nephew!" Finn said around the smile that was threatening to split his face in half. "Look at them, they're gorgeous!"

"Growing like weeds." James agreed. "Ok, Dr Abadeer. I need you to wriggle around onto your side, little man is hiding behind his sister and I can't get a good look at him from this angle."

Marcy dutifully shifted to one side, hand still gripping Finn's tightly and eyes on the screen. She couldn't stop staring at the flare of two tiny hearts fluttering on the monitor when James brought the transducer back to the side of her bump.

"So you liked Sophia for the girl?" Finn prompted her quietly while James set about making measurements and scribbling notes.

"Yeah. It was weird, Bon suggested it. I don't think she really knows why she remembers the name but I'm trying to let it get as stuck in her brain as possible before reminding her it's from a song." Marcy whispered back with a sly smile.

"Ooh, you sneak. So, Sophia Sugar then? Guess you gave up the fight on the surnames thing?"

"I figured she's right, it's easier to spell. And it sounds really cute. But I get to be one of her middle names, she's gonna be Sophia Erin Marceline Sugar."

"Mega cute. Did you pick out any boy names yet?" Finn asked with his eye shining happily. Marcy shrugged.

"I liked Thor but Bonnie's being stubborn about it. She liked Erik but I'm not having my kid being named after a Disney prince, there are already too many Disney names in this family. So we compromised and both quite liked Nathaniel." she replied, still speaking quietly so she didn't disturb James' work. Finn quirked an eyebrow up sceptically.

"Nathaniel? Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"It's kinda long and clunky isn't it? Names are important, you need to give him a name that's short and memorable. Punchy. I read about it in the paper, men with short names are more successful. He needs a name that's gonna work for an adult as well as a baby." Finn replied carefully.

Marcy considered; Finn might be onto something there. Nate was nice as a short form of Nathaniel but she had to consider what would happen to him when he was thirteen and teachers called his full name during class registration. Would he cringe like she had when her middle name had been read out in front of the class? Even by private school standards carrying a name like Marceline Ursula had been social suicide; trying to explain she was named after her father's beloved grandmother who'd passed a week before her birth and that it has been a family tradition long before The Little Mermaid was written had only made matters worse. No, she wasn't letting her son go through the same ridicule and torment that she had. Finn was right.

"Yeah, ok dude. Much as I like Nathaniel we might save it for the next kitten instead. Unless Bonnie continues her winning streak and names it Baking Soda or something."

"So you need a boy name that's short, snappy, unique and will sounds awesome as they grow. Can I make a suggestion?"

"Sure."

"You could name him Finn. Finn Sugar. It's perfect!"

Even James snorted at that, though his eyes didn't leave the ultrasound screen where the baby boy who was certainly not going to be named Finn was wriggling around enthusiastically.

"Not even if it was a choice between Finn or Gaylord. No. Not gonna happen, dude." Marcy sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Aw come on, please? Jake wouldn't name either of his boys Finn and I want to pass my name on to the next generation." he whined.

"Then have a kid and call him Finn Junior. Geez man, I'm not letting you name my son." Marcy replied.

"Well Finn Junior is growing nicely; he's around twenty three and a half centimetres." James informed them solemnly, interrupting their bickering. "If you could just lie back so we can take a look at, um, Sophia was it?"

"Probably Sophia, yeah. But there's still time to change our minds." Marcy replied as Finn helped her to stretch out on her back again. He was frowning at her stomach now and she shot him a confused glance while James was busy measuring her little girl.

"What?" she asked after he failed to say anything.

"Why's there a black line going up the middle of your stomach? Was that always there?" he asked in confusion. Marcy flushed and dropped the hand she'd been holding for comfort.

"It's called the linea nigra and it's normal in pregnancy. The hormones cause it, they've made my skin darker in general." she muttered, embarrassed.

"But Lady didn't have that." Finn pressed.

"And I'm not Lady. In case you hadn't noticed I've got stretch marks and crap all over, swollen feet, bags under my eyes and weird dark patches in odd places on my body while she looked like a glowing fertility goddess at every stage of every pregnancy. I'm already feeling body conscious enough without your dumb questions. Just google it if you're that bloody curious, I'm not your resource." Marceline growled, suddenly deeply irritated by him.

"Ok. Sorry." Finn said quietly. He backed off a little and stayed silent for the rest of the consultation, even avoided James' eyes when the sonographer shot him a sympathetic glance.

With a bag full of leaflets about antenatal classes, support groups and multiple pregnancies Marcy and Finn left the ultrasound department and made for the elevators together, still walking in awkward silence. Bonnie would have about ten minutes before she had to be in a meeting and Marcy wanted her to know the scan had gone well. They rode the elevator in silence for a couple of seconds before Finn sighed and bit his lip in the exact same gesture of agitation that he shared with his brother. He and Marcy both started talking at the same time.

"Listen, I'm sorry-"

"Sorry for yelling at you-"

"-cause I know you're sensitive right now-"

"-feeling sorta weird about how I look-"

They stopped at the same time too and shared a sheepish laugh.

"Sorry I got grouchy. I feel really gross right now." Marcy told him. Finn nodded.

"Sorry I was a butt about asking you stuff. I just, yeah. This whole process is kinda fascinating for me. And I'm more and more aware that I won't get to experience first-hand the process of becoming anyone's parent." he replied with a poignant twist of his lips that wasn't really a smile so much as an expression of weary resignation. Marcy tried to catch his eye but Finn was busy watching the numbers light up as they went from the ground floor all the way up to level six.

"Dude, come on. I know you miss Phoebe but you shouldn't give up on ever having a family with anyone. You're still young, you- Bon!" Marcy cut off in surprise as the elevator doors opened to reveal her girlfriend waiting on the other side. The redhead jumped a little, startled.

"Hey! I was just coming down to ultrasound to see if I could catch the end of your scan, the meeting got postponed." Bonnie told her once she'd gotten over the surprise of having her name shouted at her unexpectedly. "Do you guys wanna get some lunch? I've got nothing scheduled for another two hours although I should really make the most of having extra time to look through my paperwork."

"Yeah, lunch sounds good. Our babies are huge now! James said they're the same size as a can of soup each!" Marcy enthused happily. "And their lungs are already developing; did you know they practice the motions of breathing and crying and stuff before they're even born?"

Finn trailed after the two joyful expectant parents as they re-entered the elevator and as happy as he was for them he felt more distant than ever from his friends. Ever since he'd waved goodbye at the train station and gone off to boot camp things had changed; first Jake had met Lady and they'd immediately fallen pregnant and had Kim, then Marcy had graduated from her PhD and she bought a house with Bonnie and went from his crazy musician friend to his stable, calm musician friend. It seemed like everyone he knew was settling down and starting families and getting married, moving on with their lives. And he was in pretty much the same place he'd been eight years ago just with less kidneys and more scar tissue. He watched Bonnie crouch down to coo at Marcy's bump and saw the look of mingled wonder and delight on her face when she felt their babies kick; it was hard to repress the sharp stab of jealousy when he felt so left behind by everyone. Perhaps Marcy could see the longing on his face though, she'd always been good at reading people's moods.

"Come here, Uncle. You gotta feel them bounce around too." she informed him with a sympathetic smile. Next second she'd grabbed his hand again and was towing him forwards until his palm was pressed against her bump. It felt less like individual kicks and more like a confusing irregular spattering of tiny feet and fists on the other side of his friend's skin. Finn found himself smiling despite his dark mood. He was looking forwards to being an uncle again at least, that was something to focus on for now.

...

Tuesday snuck up on Marcy before she'd even realised Monday was done and she found herself driving to work instead of walking because even a short distance like that was starting to hurt her feet. She was humming Liszt's _Angelus_ nervously as she pulled into the faculty car park and it was some relief to see Keila leaning against a wall to shelter from the rain and finish her cigarette.

"Yo, Professor Preggo." the curly haired woman greeted her as she climbed out of the car. Marcy frowned at her.

"Call me that again and you're never graduating. Well done, you just volunteered to carry my cello." she replied, opening the boot and motioning for Keila to come over. She did, sighing and tossing her cigarette butt away as she went.

"Like I was waiting out here for my damn health? I didn't want you straining yourself and turning the practice hall into a surprise episode of Helicopter Rescues: Birth Edition." Keila replied as she shouldered the cello case with a wince. "You know you can get electronic cellos? And they weigh, like, a tenth of a regular cello?"

"But where would be the fun in that?" Marcy replied with a wicked grin. "Besides it's really not that heavy. You just have noddle arms."

Keila just shrugged and followed her inside, carefully easing the bulky cello case through the side door and into the high, narrow corridor of the main music building. They'd struck it lucky with the university and instead of being moved to the soulless brand new practice hall on the other side of campus the classical music department was still in the listed, late-Elizabethan converted chapel complete with bare wooden beams in the ceiling and the odd original stained glass window. What the building lacked in precision engineered acoustics it more than made up for in atmosphere. As they walked Marcy considered that she and Keila must look supremely out of place in their hoodies and casual jeans. She often forgot that Keila wasn't that much younger than herself and that she was pretty newly graduated compared to the majority of her colleagues at the university. It was sorta nice in a way though, she was more on the same level as a lot of her students and she tended to be the one they came to with problems. Perhaps it was sometimes exhausting but Marceline remembered vividly every hour she'd spent in Eberhardt's office as a troubled eighteen year old, eyes cast to the floor as she explained that she would need three tickets for her first performance; one for her father and two for her foster parents. Eb had just nodded, he'd not asked why she had foster parents or if she wanted a ticket for her mother or any of the invasive questions she'd been expecting. That was the kind of lecturer Marceline wanted to be too; the sort who could offer support either with words or silence depending on what her students needed from her.

" _Ahem._ " she cleared her throat loudly as they entered the main hall, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. Bongo and Guy broke apart from what looked like a pretty passionate kiss, both beet red in the face. "There's a time and a place, guys. And this is neither."

"Sorry. Um. What are we starting with?" Guy asked quietly. He wasn't quite able to keep the pleased smile from sneaking back across his face when he reached for his violin case and brushed Bongo's hand. Marcy rolled her eyes again; surely she and Bonnie hadn't been that nauseatingly in love when they'd first met?

" _Angelus_. I still think you guys could use a little extra work on your fingering. Nothing dirty about that, Keila, 'fingering' is a legit musical term." Marcy added with a sigh. She loved her students, she reminded herself. Just sometimes it felt less like helping shape the futures of bright young minds and more like trying to herd juvenile, pervert cats. It wasn't like she hadn't made the fingering joke herself more times than she could count over the years and it still made Jake choke on whatever he was drinking if she timed it right.

The morning passed peacefully enough with a couple of warm ups, a full rehearsal of their entire set and some extra work on one or two movements Marcy thought they needed the last minute practice on. It was plain to see the nerves were running high through the quartet but they were nowhere near as tense as Marceline had anticipated they would be. Probably because Guy and Bongo kept gazing softly into each other's eyes and Keila was so laid back she could have breezed through more or less anything. It was a nice change of pace from the usual hissy fits and temper tantrums classical musicians were prone to before a big performance.

They broke for lunch and once Guy went to the bathroom Marcy eased herself down next to Bongo and filched a crisp out of the packet he was demolishing.

"So you're gonna ask about me and Guy and the totally-not-hiding-it-anymore thing, yeah?" he asked between bites.

"Nah, I'm just weak for cheese and onion crisps. But since you mentioned it first, what's with that? I thought the two of you were trying to stay professional and you were working out how you felt?"

"I was and we were. And then... I don't know, stuff happened, we talked and junk. And he convinced me to give it a go. It's... I'm happy. Like, peaceful? I dunno, it probably doesn't make sense." Bongo shrugged.

"No man, I get it. You're living your authentic self, there's no pressure for you to try to hide anything or act differently to how you feel. I'm happy for you." Marcy replied carefully. She leaned in and bumped her shoulder against his huge beefy arm and Bongo grinned a little self-consciously.

"Listen, don't go telling Keila cause I wanted to break it to her gentle, like. But we're, uh, moving in together." Bongo added in an undertone, casting an anxious glance at where the curly haired violinist was rooting around in her bag for a fresh packet of cigarettes.

"I highly doubt she had designs on either of you, man. She's not-"

"In New York. We're moving in together in New York." Bongo cut her off quietly. Marcy felt her mouth shape a silent 'O' of surprise. Eb hadn't been back in touch since his surprise visit and he'd been cagey about any kind of offers after he'd heard Bongo play.

"So, you got offered a position with Eberhardt?" Marcy asked. Bongo nodded, smiling shyly.

"I flew out there over New Year to audition with the string section. Eberhardt wanted me to start straight away but I told him I'd like to hold off until my PhD was finished. And that Guy coming with me was a package deal. He's trying out with the orchestra too although he's also applying to a teaching position with a fancy private school. We're moving to America and living together, it kinda doesn't feel real."

"And you're worried Keila will be jealous." Marcy realised.

"Yeah. I don't want bad feeling to ruin tonight, we need to do well or none of us graduate. I'm not saying that I think she'd deliberately jettison her own doctorate just to ruin mine but I'm also not about to take any unnecessary risks." Bongo replied.

Just then Guy returned and flung himself down next to them, winding his fingers through Bongo's free hand and smiling up at him angelically. Marcy shook her head again fondly, certain she was witnessing the start of what could be something big, and heaved herself back up to her feet.

"Gentlemen, enjoy your lunch. I better call the wifey, she gets panicky if I don't check in on my breaks." she told them with a nod. Guy and Bongo waved her off without even really looking at her, too busy staring at each other again.

"Young love, eh? Good luck to them, I hope they make it." Marcy told her bump conversationally as she slipped from the room. The babies wiggled a little in reply but it was the time of day when they were less active, Marcy liked to imagine they were snuggled up together taking a nap. She smoothed a hand down the front of the oversized hoodie she'd nicked from Jake and for a few moments allowed herself to be swept up by imagining what her twins might look like when they were older. The boy might have Bonnie's smile, she decided. He wasn't genetically related but she didn't care, in her imagination their son would have his Mama's smile and her father's eyes and he'd look at her like she was magical when she sat him in her lap and taught him to play his first piano scale. And she'd brush and braid her daughter's hair every day, hold her little hand and take her on nature walks. It would be idyllic, she was certain. Perhaps one day her son would tell her he had a boyfriend or her daughter would introduce her to a girlfriend; Marcy wasn't completely certain she knew how to raise straight children. Of course the likelihood was that they would be straight and she'd just have to deal with it. For a moment she wondered if her own mother had ever wondered about her orientation and how she'd cope raising a gay child. Then she shook her head with a snort; if wondering how she'd parent a child with a different orientation to her own was the biggest concern she had then she really didn't have anything to complain about. Instead Marcy pulled her phone out and dialled her girlfriend to check what time she'd be along that evening.

...

Performance nerves were horrible no matter how big or small the venue. They coiled in the pit of her stomach like a live snake. The thought of something going wrong or just not live up to expectation was terrifying despite the very many times she'd been at the beginning of a show, and this time was no exception. Her palms were a little sweaty, pulse just a touch faster than its usual resting rate. And then the lights dimmed and a hush fell over the crowd; Bonnie caught her breath anxiously. No matter how many times she watched Marceline play she was always consumed by nerves for her partner. Of course the tall, slender woman who smiled slowly out at the audience when a single spotlight illuminated her on stage looked nothing short of perfectly relaxed and in her element. Marcy's favourite red ball gown had been let out a little on the waist and now fit snugly over her bump, the whole aesthetic lent her an air of protective dignity that suited her surprisingly well. And of course she was calm and serene; if she had any nerves at all about her upcoming performance there was no trace of them in the smooth expression she wore.

"Good evening ladies and gentlepeople, I'm Dr Abadeer and it is my very great pleasure to welcome you all to this year's postgraduate Guildhall recital. Tonight we'll be hearing from three very skilled musicians who've been working fantastically hard for this performance. I know they're eager to get started so without further ado may I introduce Henry Bauer Junior playing Kodaly's viola arrangement of Bach's Fantasia cromatica."

Marcy stepped back from the spotlight and it refocused on a beefy young man in a slightly shiny tuxedo who nevertheless bowed professionally to the audience and raised his viola to his chin. As the music swelled to fill the hall Bonnie felt someone slide into the dark seat next to her in the front row and reached out instinctively to take her partner's hand.

"You look absolutely gorgeous tonight." Bonnie whispered in Marceline's ear. The taller woman smiled at her out of the corner of her mouth and squeezed her fingers in reply.

"Not looking so shabby yourself, Sugar. Now hush up and enjoy the music." Marcy whispered back.

Bonnie settled into her seat with her fingers warmly entwined with Marcy's and watched the show. She watched all three postgrad candidates perform various pieces of classical music, trying very hard not to let on that these kinds of concert often bored her. She could sit and look attentive through interdepartmental meetings, concerts were easy. Once Marcy got up to go perform with the quartet section of the evening Bonnie perked up a little. She didn't care much for classical music even after eight years of living with a classical musician but she never tired of seeing the rapturous expression on her girlfriend's face when she played. The quartet began with a lively waltz before playing some slower numbers; Bonnie was relaxing into the music despite herself. And then something unexpected happened. The cello made a strange, discordant squeak and the postgrads all whipped around to stare at Marceline, although none of them stopped playing. After a second she continued too, face burning with embarrassment but obviously determined to continue the concert. As soon as the last note faded and the musicians stood to take their bows from the audience Bonnie was on her feet at the side of the stage and staring up at her partner anxiously.

"What happened?" she asked over the din of applause.

"One of our babies kicked the back of my cello! Really hard! It gave me a fright." Marcy replied sheepishly. She slid down off the stage and straight into Bonnie's outstretched arms.

"It's not gonna affect their performance tonight is it?" the redhead asked against her partner's hair.

"No, if anything it makes them look more professional because they just went on playing even though I donked it up. I'm so proud of all of them." Marcy replied.

And she was, they were her first group of postgrads to graduate and the first students she'd have the honour of awarding a doctorate to. It felt incredibly good to be a part of their journey, in a weird way she had a premonition that their twins had added their own seal of approval to the night's performance. In fact it was definitely one of the best concerts of her life, Marcy thought as Bonnie turned to congratulate the postgrads jumping down from the stage next to them.


	25. Week 25

**WHAT WHAT ANOTHER CHAPTER ALREADY?! That's right fanchildren, Plesi is very nearly on the ball with her writing. So yes, I've been down and it's affected my posting schedule. But I'm feeling better now and here's the proof!**

 **Yo, a quick word on names. It's pretty common at least amongst all the expectant parents I know for them to pick out baby names long before their bundles of joy arrive. It's also pretty normal for them to change their minds several times. So just, nothing's set in stone y'know?**

 **As snug as a plug in a rug, right? Plug-a-plug-plug. Your butts. Get them over to The Ties That Bind Us. Shit's about to get reeeeal. I can't tell you what a delight it is to beta for that amazing story.**

 **Content warning: implied kinkiness! Hadn't done that in a while, though y'all might miss it. Trauma, medical junk, hugs and tears.**

* * *

"Good morning, Dr Bonnibel Sugar's phone. Umm, nope, she's tied up right now. I'm her partner. Can I take a message? Uhuh. Yep. No, she doesn't work weekends. Ok? Right, alright. Yeah. I'll certainly ask her to call you back when she's a little less _tied up_. Sure, thanks. Bye."

Marceline hung up the line and grinned down at Bonnie who frowned back and wriggled around impatiently, trying in vain to free her arms.

"You could have just held it to my face for me! Was that the hospital? Did you just tell my boss that I can't come to the phone because we're in the middle of messing around with bondage? I can't believe you actually said 'tied up'! That's not even a little bit subtle! Fucking hell, where are the handcuff keys? I need to call them back, it's gotta be something important."

It wasn't the absolute best start to a Saturday and it only got worse from there. When Bonnie was finally released and called them back it turned out that the hospital were pulling her in because they were having a crisis in accident and emergency and they needed every off-duty consultant to come in and pick up an emergency rotation.

"You've not had to work in A&E since you were a first year junior though." Marcy pointed out with a frown as Bonnie was reluctantly pulling a fresh blouse out of the wardrobe. "You're not an emergency doctor, you don't even do that kinda doctoring anymore. It's like asking me to play jazz; I can do it but it isn't something I've practiced in forever."

"It's not really the same thing as a concert, love. I'm technically qualified and there are patients who desperately need someone to see them, it's actually part of my contract. Please don't be weird about it. The juniors are on strike over that stupid contract they're trying to force on them and I fully support them so if I have to give up a Saturday morning then at least nobody has to go without emergency care. I have to go, try to have a good day. Love you, I'll call when I know what time I'll be home."

And with a hasty kiss on the cheek she hurried out of the door, leaving Marcy to sulk alone.

"Your Mama is too nice for her own good." Marceline told her bump as she slouched downstairs to the lounge. "Like, she's gonna go and spend the whole day slaving away in the most stressful department in the hospital just because the baby doctors are striking about something again. I bet she's gonna come home covered in sick people's germs and gross body fluids. It isn't fair, I had _plans_. Nothing you two need to know about though, it's grownup stuff. How are you feeling today, babies?"

Someone kicked her hard in the kidney and around the eye-watering pain Marceline smiled. They'd started responding to her voice, moving around more and kicking when she touched her bump or spoke to them.

"Well I'm glad you guys are happy, anyway. You wanna get some lunch? It's a bit early but I want lunch. You're such hungry little babies, you make me want to eat stuff all the time. If you keep this up I'm gonna be the size of a house by the time you get here. You don't want me to be a chunky Mummy, right? I wanna be slim and sexy at least a little bit longer, so I can make your teenage friends uncomfortable when they meet me."

Another kick, this time at the front of the bump near where she was resting her hand.

"Come on then my wiggly little salsa dancers, let's make your Mum a sandwich. Then we'll see if there's anything good on TV or maybe call your uncle Jake and ask if he wants to come over and watch and film and cook for us."

She never made it as far as the kitchen, the doorbell rang and Marcy turned to answer it with one hand still resting calmingly on her bump where the babies were wriggling around restlessly. It was the postman with a largish parcel addressed to both of them. Marceline took it inside, frowning down thoughtfully at the German postmark indicating it had come from Munich. Usually Bonnie's parents only wrote their daughter's name on anything they mailed, it was unusual to receive anything addressed to both of them.

"So what do you think your Oma and Opa have sent us, babies? Something nice? I bet it's something for you two." Marcy told her stomach as she lifted the box carefully into the lounge and rested it on the coffee table to open. They fluttered around a little more in reply and she smiled fondly again, stroking a hand down her stomach and grinning when something that could definitely have been a tiny foot prodded her in the palm. Inside the box there was a selection of cute baby clothes, some German language reading books and two hand-knitted plush bunnies. There was also a packet of Bonnie's favourite German candy and a bag with the Baynern Munich FC logo on the front that Marceline opened with a rueful smile, already knowing what it would contain. Sure enough two bright red newborn sized football shirts fell out; when she turned them over they were numbered 'one' and 'two' and each bore the name 'SUGAR' underneath their number.

"Oh your Granddaddy isn't going to like this at all, babies. He's a Manchester City fan, I can guarantee that the minute he sees these he's gonna make you wear tiny little Man City shirts instead. Poor babies, you don't even care about football, do you? I bet we can put one of these on Cinnamon though. He'd look super cute in a football shirt."

She was about to put the box down on the lounge floor, certain that before long the cats would be amusing themselves playing in it, when she noticed the DVD case at the very bottom of the box half hidden under the tissue paper that had been packed around the gifts. There was a note under the clear plastic lid;

 _Your mother found these old tapes in the attic and had me make a video for you, just to give you a little reminder of what you're letting yourself in for. I hope you have as much fun with your two miracles as we did with you and your brother. Please remember we're only ever a phone call away if you need anything._

 _Much love,_

 _Dad xxx_

With a grin of anticipation Marceline slid the DVD into the inbuilt player on the side of the TV. Home videos from when Bonnie was a kid? Yeah she could have watched those for hours, they were almost certainly a goldmine of teasing and blackmail material as well as utterly adorable. She wasn't disappointed.

The screen flared to life with a shaky shot of a chubby white and cream cat asleep in the sun, surrounded by what looked like a slightly overgrown summer garden. There were childish giggles off screen and someone with a high pitched, bossy voice hissed;

"Neddy, be quiet! You'll wake him up!"

The scene whirled in a swirl of colours and refocussed onto a little girl's face, maybe six or seven years old with long light red pigtails and a sprinkle of freckles on her pink slightly sunburnt nose. She nodded seriously to the camera and began speaking in a quiet, solemn voice. Marceline almost laughed out loud when she realised that Bonnie had been trying to imitate her favourite wildlife documentaries.

"Ahem. Here we can see an adult male of the Old Mr Creampuff species of big cat, napping after stealthily hunting down a lunch of tuna bits and half of my ham sandwich. This magnificent creature can sleep for up to ten hours at a time and smells like kitty poop and love. He's a- Neddy!"

The cameraman had apparently gotten bored and was now filming a large bumblebee that had landed on their mother's marigolds. The picture shook violently for a minute as the siblings presumably struggled for control of the camera and then tilted to show a close up of someone's freckly nose before a little boy's voice cut in.

"Bonnie let go! I wanna do the pictures! MAMA! BONNIE ISN'T PLAYING FAIR!"

"Gimme the camera! You woke Creampuff up, Ned! NED'S BEING MEAN TO THE CAT, MAMA!"

"What are you two fighting about now? Is that your father's camera?"

"Ned, run!"

The little film ended with a shaky shot of grass and the indistinct background of an adult shouting and breathless childish laughter.

"Your Mama is going to be so embarrassed when she sees this." Marcy murmured to her bump. "We'll have to time it perfectly. This video is just pure gold, it's amazing. Do you wanna watch it again? Let's make a sandwich and then watch it again. There's probably more too, this is the best film I've seen in months."

Really she wasn't at all annoyed that Bonnie had been unexpectedly called away to work, not when she had the funniest, cutest, most adorable blackmail material to watch and a wiggly, kicking bump to watch it with. Life really wasn't so bad, Marceline reflected as she made her way through to the kitchen.

...

Across town a fully adult and much more stressed out Bonnibel wasn't having anywhere near as much fun with her day. She pulled off her examination gloves and scrubbed her hands clean for what felt like the hundredth time that hour then tiredly picked up the next patient file, making her way on aching feet to the noisy and overcrowded A&E waiting room. The name on the triage sheet was halfway out of her mouth before she'd even really looked at it.

"Finn Madigan? Wait, Finn?"

It was him alright, with an icepack held over a rapidly swelling black eye and more than just his own blood soaking into his on-duty police uniform. He grinned up at her lopsidedly and managed to get to his feet on his fourth attempt, wobbling a little and grabbing her arm when she reached out to him.

"Hey Bon Bon. Dr Bon Bon. I got hit in m'head. Feel kinda weird. Eheh, you're a cancer doctor. Have I got cancer? Ooh my teeth're vibrating."

There was a muscular female police officer next to him with an obviously very drunk man in handcuffs also covered in blood. She nodded and stood up too, putting a hand on Finn's shoulder and peering worriedly into his face.

"You gonna be ok, buddy? I'll look after this guy, you go get your head looked at, right? Do you two know each other?" she added to Bonnie.

"Yes, he's a friend. Come on Finn, I'll check you over."

"That dude's my collar. I 'rested him." Finn told her proudly as she gently lead him to one of the examination cubicles.

"Awesome, well done." Bonnie replied, because she didn't know what else to say. Finn's chest puffed out with pride anyway and he swayed dangerously. She got him to sit and then carefully lie down on an examination table while she shone her pen light into his eyes to check his pupil dilation reflex and reaction times.

"Can you tell me where we are now, Finn?"

"Hospital. Mhm. But you're not an emergency doctor. M'confused. An I feel a bit sick." he replied with a frown. "S'Marcy here?"

"No honey, she's at home. I'm just filling in because the juniors are on strike today and they needed as many doctors as possible to help out. Here, you can be sick into this bucket if you need to. Can you tell me what happened just before you hit your head?"

"Uhh. Think I was at work. We got a call, someone fighting in th'pub. Came in to break it up, an one of them hit me with something. Bottle, I think. Didn't break though. An Fionna, that's my buddy outside. She called an ambulance. The sarge thought it was funny t'put us together cause our names sound the same an we're both blonde. I like her, she's cute."

"I doubt Phoebe would be happy to hear that if you still want to get back together." Bonnie replied with a distracted frown. "Can you touch the tip of your nose with your finger?"

He managed it the third time, scrunching up his face and concentrating far harder than she was comfortable with.

"S'hard. All blurry an stuff." Finn told her. "Hey, Bon? M'head hurts. Someone hit me."

"You said. Do you remember telling me that, Finn?" Bonnie asked him gently. He shook his head.

"Can you feel everything normally? Any tingling in your arms or legs or anything?"

"No, don't think so. Are we in hospital?"

"Yes, honey. I think you've got a concussion and you'll need a CT scan to check your head's ok. Do you want me to call your Dad?"

"M'Dad?"

"He's your next of kin, right?"

"Uh, dunno. If y'wanna?"

"Finn I legally need your consent to contact your next of kin and let them know you've been hurt."

"Wait, m'what? I'm hurt?"

Bonnie sighed; there was no pleasure at all in having to use the legal pathways for patients unable to make decisions for themselves. Not when it was her friend and he'd been hurt in the line of duty yet again. She hoped that once he was recovered from the concussion it didn't cause him any psychological problems, she knew how much Finn hated hospitals and being injured.

"Never mind, right now you're definitely lacking mental capacity. I'm gonna get someone to make you comfortable and put you on the assessment ward, ok? I'll ring your father and let him know you got hurt. You'll probably need to stay at least tonight so we can keep an eye on you, I'll come check on you when my shift finishes."

Finn just stared at her in confusion as she scribbled some notes onto his chart and then made a quick phone call to the assessment ward to make sure they had a bed for him. When the porters came to wheel him up to the ward she dug out the correct paperwork and called his father. The police had probably already called whoever Finn had as his emergency contact; no doubt Jake was already on his way to the hospital. But if someone needed to make medical decisions for Finn when he wasn't able to make them for himself then for now it would need to be his father unless he got married one day or Joshua passed away. She sighed again to herself, worried about her friend as well as exhausted from the relentless pace of a Saturday afternoon in a packed accident and emergency department. Soon she'd be able to reduce her hours and focus more on her growing family. Bonnie loved her job, she really did, but a part of her couldn't wait to have a little more free time and a little less crippling stress piled on top of her.

...

It was past eight in the evening when the front door finally slammed closed, announcing Bonnie had made it home at last. Marcy glanced at the clock over the TV; Bonnie had been working for more than ten hours and she was almost certainly ready to drop from exhaustion. Marceline hauled herself up off the sofa and went through to the hall to greet her girlfriend.

"Hey babe, how was work?" she asked gently while Bonnie hung up her coat and shook the rain out of her hair.

"Urgh, just awful. Honestly, the day I've had. Is your bump bigger? It looks bigger than it did this morning, I'm sure of it." Bonnie replied with a frown.

"Probably. I think they've been running through their kung fu poses all afternoon, little monsters have only just stopped dancing on my bladder and decided to take a nap. You said you'd call when you were coming home, your dinner's still in the fridge. Sorry."

Marcy murmured the last part quietly, she'd slipped around the other woman and began gently kneading her tense shoulders while Bonnie rolled her head from side to side and made happy relieved noises at the attention.

"Mmm , sorry. That's absolutely the best thing I've felt all day. Finn ended up in A&E with concussion, someone tried to break a bottle on his face in a bar brawl. Gave me the shock of my life when he landed on my patient list. I went up to check on him before I came home, forgot to call. He's fine though, they're discharging him tomorrow. I was pretty surprised by apparently he's having Phoebe stay with him for a couple of days to recover, guess him getting hurt made her think about their relationship? No idea who even told her about it but I'd gamble on maybe Jake. I was really worried about him but his CT came back clean so it's nothing too awful, no bleeding or obvious brain swelling. Thought we could take dinner and a film over tomorrow night, keep them company if you like?"

"Poor Finn. Yeah, that sounds good. Go put your feet up and I'll reheat your dinner, babe."

Bonnie shuffled off to get changed out of her work clothes and Marceline went through to the kitchen, accompanied by Cinnamon who'd magically materialised the moment he'd heard Bonnie's voice.

"Come on ginger-butt, I need to get to the fridge." Marcy told him, shoving him out of the way gently with her foot. Cinnamon looked up at her with big sad eyes and meowed plaintively. The only warning Marceline got before he jumped was when he bunched himself and wiggled his butt for half a second. Then several kilos of affectionate but rather stupid cat landed heavily on her shoulder and his whiskery face was breathing gross fishy breath into her ear.

"Oof, Cinnamon! You're not a parrot, you can't ride around on my shoulder. You're such an adorable moron." she told him, reaching up to pet his ears and making no effort to move him.

Marcy reheated the pork steaks and mushroom sauce she'd made earlier with Cinnamon proudly supervising from his place on her shoulder. When Peppermint came in through the cat flap in the back door he hissed in annoyance and slunk off to sit on the stairs, the only place in the house he would still be able to see what was going on in the kitchen and also be higher up than Cinnamon.

"Bon, food's ready." Marcy called up the stairs. She frowned when she got no reply and hastily set the plates down on the dining table before grabbing Cinnamon and pulling him down from her shoulders.

"Don't you dare even think about touching that food, fur-butt." she told him seriously. "I will make you into a hat, I'm not even kidding."

He stared back with big innocent eyes and Marcy shook her head at him before putting him down and pushing him in the direction of the lounge. She made her way upstairs as quickly as she was able and couldn't quite keep back a smile when she looked around the bedroom door. Bonnie was fast asleep on the bed with her glasses mashed against her face and halfway into her pyjamas.

"Hey, nerd. You can't nap like that, you're gonna get a sore neck." Marcy told her gently, shaking her shoulder and stroking back a loose wisp of strawberry blonde hair from her partner's face.

"Uh, sorry. I, um, I was napping?" Bonnie asked fuzzily. She blinked up owlishly at Marcy before the taller woman slipped her glasses off for her and put them on the night stand.

"Yeah, you were flat-out. I made you some dinner, do you feel up to eating?"

"Food sounds wonderful. Thanks, love. Oh hey little guy." Bonnie added with a sleepy smile, reaching out to pet Cinnamon where he'd jumped up on the pillow next to her. After a second though she frowned in confusion. "Marcy? What's on his face?"

"Mushroom sauce. Goddammit. What did I say, ginger-butt? Did you think I was joking about making you into a hat? Babe, I dunno how to break this to you. I think Cinnamon might have eaten your dinner."

Cinnamon narrowly avoided being turned into a hat but only because he rolled onto his back and started purring adorably while Marcy was telling him off. In the end they ordered Chinese and curled up on the sofa together with a film. Bonnie was fast asleep again before the end of the third scene.

...

They got a taxi to Finn's place the next afternoon, Bonnie wouldn't even consider parking either of their cars in the bad neighbourhood his apartment was in. He answered the intercom after a minute and pressed the buzzer to unlock the door to the main building.

"Would it kill him to move somewhere with an elevator?" Marcy groused as she hauled herself up the stairs to his third floor apartment.

"You like walking, you always say you'd rather walk." Bonnie reminded her.

" _Liked_. I _liked_ walking. Past tense. It's not fun when I'm lugging around two increasingly large passengers."

"You wanted babies, love. I suggested we get another kitten." Bonnie reminded her mischievously.

Marcy opened her mouth to reply but at that moment Finn opened his apartment door and grinned at them so she had no choice but to shut up and accept his hug. The look on her face said their conversation was far from over, though.

"Hey, there's my hero! Thanks for patching my head up yesterday." the blonde man grinned to Bonnie once he'd finished squeezing her a little too hard around the ribs.

"Just try not to get hit on the head again, ok?" she told him gently. "You look like you lost a pro boxing match."

They followed him inside; the first thing that Marcy noticed was that the place looked suspiciously clean.

"Finn, did you spend the day cleaning before Phoebe came over?" she asked him in an undertone as they trooped into his tiny lounge.

"No, she was here when Jake dropped me off. She cleaned. Cooked too, and, um, I think we might be back together." he muttered around a deepening blush. Marcy and Bonnie exchanged a look but they didn't say anything, the redhead in question had just come through from the kitchen with a huge tray of pasta that she put on the table with a flourish.

"Lovely to see you both again, I made mac n cheese. Is that ok for everyone?" Phoebe asked brightly.

"Sounds great. How are you?" Marcy replied with an easy smile.

It was plain to see why Finn thought they were back together over dinner. He was attentive and caring towards her, complimented her on a range of things from her looks to her intelligence and smiled warmly every time their eyes met. If she hadn't been so worried about him before Marcy might have found it a bit sickening but she was just happy for her friend, she knew how badly he'd missed Phoebe. So after they'd finished eating while Bonnie was checking Finn's reflexes again in the lounge Marcy eased her way into the small kitchen and began helping the younger woman wash up, thoughtfully composing what she was going to say in her head.

"You're trying to think of a subtle way to tell me not to break his heart again, yeah?" Phoebe spoke up unexpectedly. Marcy shrugged, there was no point pretending otherwise.

"He's one of my best friends in the world. Anyone who breaks his heart is automatically my enemy and I like you too much to hate you. So please, if you're not sure this time be honest with him. But don't pretend like everything's going great then just drop him without warning. He's been a real mess." she replied after a long moment of silence. Phoebe was staring down into the sink, avoiding her gaze.

To Marcy's absolute horror the redhead let out a little sob and next second she'd thrown her arms around Marceline's neck and was crying against her shoulder.

"I didn't mean to hurt him! I just got scared, he started talking about wanting a family and I freaked out! It just all got really intense really fast and I needed to breathe. The more I tried to pull back a little the harder he clung on, it was too much in the end." she whispered around her tears.

"Hey, it's ok. Just, maybe you should tell him that? He thought you thought he was too immature." Marcy replied as she patted Phoebe's back awkwardly.

"I didn't know what to say, I love his stupid jokes really. I love him. And that frightened me because I'm not used to loving people. I'm a bit messed up." Phoebe sniffed guiltily.

Marcy hadn't been wrong in what she'd told Finn before Christmas, she mused. Phoebe must have been tortured by guilt over hurting him. And it wasn't like Marcy couldn't sympathise with how that felt; she'd had a freak out of her own when things has been just that bit too perfect with Bonnie.

"Hey, look, I've been there. I can't judge you for doing the same thing I did, you just kept it going longer. Best thing you can do just open up and tell him everything." Marcy told Phoebe. The younger woman unwrapped her arms from around Marcy's neck and backed up a little, wiping her eyes in embarrassment.

"I dunno what to say to him. I was so glad you guys offered to come over tonight cause I knew we were gonna need to talk it out but I haven't worked out what to tell him." Phoebe mumbled.

"Then how about writing a letter? Put it all down on paper and you can work out exactly what you want to say and how you want to say it, read through it and make sure it's perfect before you give it to him." Marcy suggested. Phoebe nodded slowly as she turned back to the washing up.

"I can do that. That sounds like a really good idea, thanks Marcy."

"Turns out I'm a bit of a love expert. Who'd have known?" she replied with a small smile.

Marcy was still turning it all over in her head that night as they took a taxi home; she desperately hoped Finn wasn't about to get hurt again.

"Hey. You ok?" Bonnie asked her as they were sliding into bed together. "You've been kinda quiet."

"Just thinking. Hey, you didn't mean what you said earlier did you? About wanting a kitten instead of the babies?" Marcy replied carefully. She tried to keep any trace of insecurity out of her voice but when warm arms slid around her waist and gently pulled her the rest of the way down into the sheets she knew she'd been rumbled. Marcy struggled over onto her side so she could look Bonnie in the eyes, momentarily distracted by how lovely her partner looked in the golden glow of the bedside lamp.

"I was joking, love. I want these babies as much as you do." Bonnie told her softly as she traced a long, slender finger around the curve of Marcy's smile.

"Ok. I just got worried, you know?"

"I know. Sorry, it was a bad taste joke. I didn't mean to make you sad."

"You didn't. I was thinking about Finn and Phoebe. You think they're gonna work it out?"

"Hope so. He's crazy about her, it's plain to see." Bonnie replied. She reached over and flicked the light off, not even complaining when Marcy wrapped around her like a living blanket and rested her head on the redhead's shoulder instead of the pillow.

That was how every day should end for everyone, Marcy thought drowsily. Arms around someone they loved, safe and comfortable together and certain of how each other felt. Secure. She hoped Finn was going to sleep like that too, he deserved happiness and it looked like Phoebe made him happy.

"Love you." Bonnie mumbled in the darkness.

"Love you too. Sleep well, babe."


	26. Week 26

**Onwards to Week 26! I'm a day overdue on my update, sorry guys. I was like, 500 words from finishing last night but then I was distracted by stuff and I'm sorry.**

 **Hi, quick message to my reviewer An: since I can't PM you. I'm really glad you like Continuum and that you're into this story too. As far as kinks go, we've pretty much covered it already. Since this is a cozy story about a middle class lesbian couple becoming parents together there's not going to be a lot of really kinky scenes, especially with Marcy's pregnancy progressing as much as it already has simply because the logistics get more and more difficult the bigger the bump gets. We've already established that Bonnie's pretty into the idea of Marcy dressed up as Wonder Woman and that they own at least one pair of handcuffs. So there you have it. Kinkiness. And that's all we shall say on the subject.**

 **How do you solve a problem like a Panda? ...Well you tell your readers to go read The Ties That Bind Us, that's how! I'm like, your fic recommending Mother Superior, yo! At this point it's pretty much expected I'm gonna try get you to go read the Trash Panda though, right?**

 **Content Warning: birth conversations, jealousy, a small potshot at brass players (two words: _spit valve_ ), yelling and the senseless incineration of kitchenwares.**

* * *

"I'm sorry, you want a _what?"_

"A natural birth. You heard me."

It took every ounce of control Bonnie had to keep her eyes on the road and her voice calm. Since their awful argument before Christmas she was trying extra hard not to upset Marceline if she could possibly avoid it. Even when she came out of her first antenatal class with some completely insane idea about not wanting pain relief when she went into labour.

"Ok, I hear that you want to keep unnecessary medicalization out of your birth experience. And I understand that you think that's best for you and our twins. But love, you're gonna be in phenomenal pain. You have no concept of what that level of pain feels like. You're going to need some medicine to get through it."

Marcy just shook her head with an infuriatingly serene smile on her face.

"Women have been having babies without pain relief for thousands of years. I don't need it, I want to be as present as possible for the experience. I can do breathing exercises to manage the pain." she replied, still smiling enigmatically. Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"People have been dying of smallpox for thousands of years too, it doesn't mean that it's a good thing. Look, I'm not gonna insist you have any medicine you don't want. I'm just worried about you, I don't think you realise how much it's gonna hurt. And twin births are more complicated, you might struggle to deliver both babies naturally. It would be safer to have an elective section-"

"No." Marcy cut in. Her smile had finally been replaced with a frown. "We talked about this is class, I'm not letting anyone perform unnecessary surgery on me. Not when my body can handle it without help."

Bonnie bit back the first few replies that came to her mind as she pulled in on their drive. She should have gone to that bloody antenatal class too but like an idiot she'd assumed there was nothing about the process of birth they could teach a qualified doctor so she hadn't really made too much effort to get out of work early for it. Marcy hadn't seemed to mind and it had worked out better for everyone. Except that it obviously hadn't. Marcy was the most stubborn person Bonnie had ever met, there was no way she was going to change her mind quickly or easily.

"Like I said, it's your choice. Just remember that until the midwife is actually down there telling you to push nothing's set in stone. There's time to change your mind." Bonnie murmured.

"I know. Thanks for not being a total doctor about it." Marcy replied. Again, that might have possibly started an argument in the past. But Bonnie just let it go and followed her partner out of the car and into the dark house.

Marceline sniffed the air and frowned the moment she was through the door.

"That smells like dinner. What did you do? Bon, did you try to cook?" she asked suspiciously. The redhead grinned a little self-consciously.

"Maybe. I, um, I had a visitor waiting when I got home and she helped me figure out the oven." Bonnie admitted. Marcy narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Lady?"

"Nope."

"Huh. Phoebe?"

"Nope."

"One of your doctor friends then."

"Absolutely not, I can guarantee they don't have time to drop by for impromptu cooking lessons."

"Then I give up. Who was it?" Marcy asked curiously.

"TT. She came by on her way home with an apple pie left over from the bakery and asked what I was making you for dinner. She seemed pretty horrified that I don't cook so she showed me how to make that casserole you like and she put it in the oven on a timer. It should be ready soon. I didn't really follow what she was doing with it but you have to admit it smells pretty glorious."

Marceline frowned harder. It was childish, she knew it was, but she'd spent eight years patiently trying to teach Bonnie to cook with very limited success. Apparently her father's weird new girlfriend had breezed into their lives and just magically charmed Bonnie into the kitchen and was in the process of turning her into some kind of domestic goddess. It made Marcy feel a little odd, a little territorial. The kitchen was her domain, she liked that there was something she could offer Bonnie that the redhead really _needed_ her for. In the past when she'd been away touring Bonnie had eaten at Jake's place most nights or reheated stuff Marcy had left in the freezer for her because the results when she tried to cook for herself hadn't really been edible. It felt decidedly unnerving to come home and find Bonnie had cooked and the kitchen was still intact.

"That was nice of her." Marcy finally mumbled, though she didn't meet her partner's eyes. She didn't want to seem ungrateful about it, she was very aware that she was being childish.

"Wasn't it? I was a bit wary of her at first but she really does seem like a sweetheart once you get to know her. And she makes your father so happy, she obviously cares about him a lot. I just think the whole thing is really sweet." Bonnie continued as she moved around the kitchen getting plates and cutlery ready.

"Yeah, it's super heart-warming." Marcy replied with a definite sulk. The redhead missed her tone of voice though, she was busy peering into the oven and humming happily when the food wasn't a blackened mess. Marcy stood and helplessly watched her partner take the place she'd always thought was unassailably hers in the kitchen and suffered a strange feeling of jealousy. Bonnie's adorable lack of cookery skills were one of the things Marcy loved about her, she loved the fact that her usually amazingly capable girlfriend couldn't do something and she could. Sometimes Marcy still felt just that tiny bit inferior; knowing Bonnie would subsist on toast and cereal bars without her was one of the things that counteracted that. So she was quiet through dinner, silently resenting that it was so delicious and had turned out perfectly. Maybe Bonnie even noticed but she seemed so pleased with herself, even called up TT afterwards to gush her thanks at how well the food had gone. Marcy was left to load the dishwasher in a sulk.

...

"Doorbell." Marcy murmured, not bothering to open her eyes. She got no reply and frowned, still half asleep. "Bon. S'the doorbell. Answer it?"

Still nobody said anything and nobody moved next to her. Marcy rolled over to prod her girlfriend in the ribs and almost fell off the sofa; dammit she'd been napping in the middle of the day again. She sat up and looked around blearily, disorientated. Of course. It was Wednesday afternoon and she was home early from work, Bonnie wouldn't be back for hours yet. The doorbell rang again and Marcy stood to answer it, frowning around her yawn. She'd been dreaming about... flying? Her old teddy Hambo had been there too and- she strained her memory- something about a thorn bush that sucked her in when she struggled? She'd been rereading Harry Potter before her accidental nap; that probably explained why her dreams were full of her and Bonnie having surreal and magical adventures together. But when Marcy stumbled through from the lounge to the hall and saw who was standing on the other side of the plate glass door she groaned quietly to herself.

"Hello, Theresa." she greeted her father's girlfriend unenthusiastically.

"Well hello yourself, Sunflower! I thought I'd drop by to see how you are since we finished up early this afternoon." TT smiled back happily. Marceline had no option but to stand aside and welcome her into the house.

"I'm fine." she ground out around clenched teeth. She didn't know where the nickname 'Sunflower' had come from but she instantly despised it. Nobody had nicknames for her, unless she counted Jake and Finn still calling her Babygoth sometimes or her father's insistence on calling her Pumpkin no matter how many times she'd asked him to stop. Nicknames were for people who were close and comfortable around each other. Her father's girlfriend was neither of those things. But she was chattering away to herself and Marcy tuned back in hurriedly.

"-and thought you might want to give them a try? When I was pregnant with my sweet Peter all those years ago I couldn't abide denim against my skin! Oh, just the thought of it brought me out in a terrible itching rash! Anyway I was in town and I saw these and I thought perhaps you'd like them. I brought you another pie too, I thought perhaps you could use feeding up a little. You're all skin and bones, girl! From the back you can't even see your bump, those poor babies need something to cushion them you know!"

Theresa finished with a happy cackle and wandered through to Marceline's kitchen, already unpacking another apple pie onto the counter and cooing to Cinnamon who'd woken up and come to investigate the noise. The younger woman gaped after her, speechless. What could she even say to that? She was far too polite to throw out her father's new girlfriend but on the other hand the woman seemed to have the wrong impression about Marceline liking her. Probably that was Bonnie's fault for letting her come over and cook yesterday. Marcy narrowed her eyes sulkily; she'd had the most wonderful, loving Mum in the world and then Betty had stepped up to foster her when she'd been small. She absolutely didn't need some new random old woman coming to her life trying to mother her when she was very nearly thirty years old. But of course there was no way to tell her so, not without being unforgivably rude. So Marcy just sighed and followed TT into the kitchen where the older woman was already in the process of making two cups of tea and slicing the still warm apple pie onto a couple of plates. Grudgingly Marceline accepted that she was kinda hungry and the pie did smell amazing.

"Well now." TT began a few minutes later after she'd slurped her way through half of her tea and congratulated herself on how well the pie had turned out. "And how are your little seedlings today, Sunflower?"

"They're fine." Marcy replied with an eye roll. Then because the older woman was still smiling at her expectantly she added, "Wriggling around a lot and getting in the way when I'm trying to play anything. I think the lower vibrations from the double bass and cello upset them. I can play sitting down but it's a pain and my stupid chest gets in the damn way. Sorry. I dunno why I'm going on about it."

She flushed a little and looked away, annoyed with herself that she'd accidentally opened up even a little to TT. She didn't like her, refused to like her. But the annoying old woman was smiling gently and nodding like she understood completely.

"Oh back when I played horn with the brass band I had the same problem, little Peter just didn't want to sit still and let me fix my spit valve." TT sighed wistfully. "Of course he loved marching music, he used to quiet right down when I played."

"You played horn." Marcy replied flatly. She tried to keep the contempt out of her expression as much as possible but every string musician knew what utter oafs brass musicians were, with their weird metal tubes full of spit and their big red cheeks and lips.

"I sure did. I was in a brass band in the little village we lived in at the time, I used to play in the church hall every holiday. Oh! Sweet little Peter, he used to help polish the buttons on my uniform, he thought I looked like an old fashioned soldier dressing up for parade." the older woman sighed with a far-away look in her soft hazel eyes. "Mummy, he'd say, one day I want to be a soldier like you and play all the music. My sweet boy."

Marcy was saved from the uncomfortable situation by Peppermint leaping onto the sofa next to TT and head butting her arm until she carefully replaced her teacup on the coffee table and made a fuss of him. It was a special kind of betrayal when a pet was so disloyal, Marceline thought sourly. Peppermint usually only permitted Hunson or Bonnie to stroke him, he treated everyone else with scathing indifference. But there he was on his back in the older woman's lap with his big paws kneading the air while she rubbed his belly and he drooled and purred without any hint of his usual aloof feline dignity.

"Well, I'd better be heading off. You look after yourself and those babies, Sunflower. And remember to enjoy this time while you can, it'll fly over and before you know it they're grown and off exploring the world without you and you just can't watch them every second of every day. Will you be coming to your father's birthday dinner next month?" Theresa asked as she carefully moved Peppermint off her lap and stood to gather her colourful and possibly homemade shopping bag.

"Yeah. We'll be there." Marcy sighed. "Thanks for the apple pie and stuff."

"You're very welcome. And do send my love to Bonnibel too, she's such a sweet girl. Your father is always talking about what a lovely couple the two of you make, how glad he is that you have each other. And she does work so hard, the poor dear. Well I'll see you soon."

She swept forwards and pressed a kiss to Marcy's cheek before the younger woman even had the time to think about moving out of reach and then was sweeping off out of the front door with a jaunty wave and a cheerful, "cheerio!"

"Peps, you're such a faithless git. Could you tell I don't like her? Is that why you wanted to snuggle her so badly? Get out of my spot, chunkmuffin."

She picked him up and put him on the other side of the sofa but he slunk away with a sulky huff and left Marcy alone with half an admittedly delicious apple pie on the coffee table and half a pot of tea. In the end she guiltily hid the empty foil container under some kitchen roll in the bin and hoped Bonnie wouldn't think to ask if TT had brought another pie when Marcy told her the older woman had dropped by again. Besides, possibly her father's girlfriend was right and having a little extra padding on her usually lithe frame wasn't such a bad thing. She'd been expecting to put on more weight than she actually had, so far she'd stayed mostly stick-like except for her bump and chest.

It was when Marcy was putting the tea things in the dishwasher and rooting around in the freezer wondering what to make for Bonnie coming home that she noticed the second shopping bag TT had left in the kitchen. She abandoned her rummage for food and curiously went to investigate it. Cinnamon's ginger face peering up sleepily from inside made her jump; the dumb cat loved sleeping in places he shouldn't.

"Get out of there you silly kitty, you've got a heated bed upstairs." Marcy told him softly as he stretched and yawned before padding off to investigate his food bowl. She lifted out the black fabric that he'd already shed on and brushed it off as best she could, frowning and trying to work out what the hell TT had bought her. Then she spotted the label and rolled her eyes. But she was getting uncomfortable even in maternity jeans and even Lady hadn't really been able to think up any stylish alternatives. The sweet Korean woman hadn't really had much of a bump with any of her pregnancies even when she'd been expecting twins and Marcy's stomach was already bigger than Lady's had been when she was full term with Kim. Well what could it hurt to give them a try? Marcy shrugged to herself and glanced out the window, checking the neighbours weren't around before she slid out of her work slacks to change.

...

The shriek of the smoke alarm woke Marcy from a deep, peaceful sleep and she shot upright in terror, sending Cinnamon surging off the back of the sofa and face first into the back window with a _thunk._

"WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON?" she yelled in panic, rushing through to the kitchen and throwing the back door open to let the smoke out.

"Sorry, I only left it for a second, you looked so tired I was gonna make dinner for you, I'm so sorry!"

Next second she'd been seized and hugged tightly by a contrite Bonnie and the smoke alarm shut off as the air cleared through the open door. Marcy extracted one arm with difficulty and flicked the oven off.

"Were you trying to cook again? Babe, we talked about this! You can't cook, you're awful at it! This is exactly what happened that time you tried to make fried rice!" Marcy said, exasperated. Her heart was still thumping wildly from her adrenaline spike and panic was beginning to give way to annoyance.

"Why are you bringing up the fried rice thing? That was five years ago!" Bonnie shot back. She unwound her arms from Marceline's waist and took a step back, visibly shifting from apologetic to defensive.

"Because you have to boil the rice before you fry it! Because it's that bloody simple, it's so obvious and you still fucked it up! You ruined the expensive wok Jake bought me for Christmas and this time what did you ruin?" Marcy opened the oven door and wafted away the cloud of thick smoke that billowed out at her. "Oh, my lasagna dish! Wow, thanks Bon. I was really hoping you'd come home and completely fuck up the whole kitchen and give me a coronary with the smoke alarm and-"

"It was a mistake! Ok? I was trying to be nice and cook for you because I like looking after you and you seemed so exhausted! Obviously that's an unforgivable crime and I'm a total bitch for trying to fix your dinner." Bonnie shot back angrily.

"But where's all this coming from? Since when did you have any interest in cooking?" Marcy asked.

"Uh, since you decided we should start a family and I had to get ready to look after more people than just you and me? What the hell, Marcy! I'm trying to help you out here!"

"Oh like you helping me out by asking Theresa bloody Trunks into the house yesterday and pushing me out of my kitchen and making me feel like you don't need me for anything anymore? Newsflash, Bonnibel! I DON'T NEED OR WANT A NEW MOTHER! So whatever you and her have planned between you, just forget it! Ok? I'm not playing nice with some random old woman that my father is inexplicably getting freaky with and you're trying to be her best friend and- I just can't! Ok? No!"

Without waiting to see what Bonnie said next Marceline spun on her heel and marched out of the kitchen, all the way upstairs to her music room where she sulkily turned on the radio and threw herself into her desk chair, furiously grading essays with a vindictive delight and pretending every single one of her hopeless freshers was Bonnie failing to understand music or cookery or bloody _tact._ There was no knock at the door and nobody came to apologise to her but then she knew how stubborn her girlfriend was and this time Marceline was determined she wouldn't be the peacemaker. Probably Bonnie was sulking miserably without her, probably she was trying to think up a suitable apology. But when Marceline stuck her head out of the study door a few hours later the house was in silence and the lights were switched off. Looked like Bonnie had gone to bed without her.

Scowling to herself and feeling her anger flare again Marcy tiptoed downstairs in the dark and went to the kitchen. She'd eaten most of an apple pie earlier that afternoon but she was hungry again and it was later than she'd realised. When she pulled the fridge open to help herself to a snack, casting dark looks at the oven and ruined lasagna dish, there was a stack of sandwiches under food wrap to keep them fresh an a post-it note with a message on it. She snatched the note and read it, still scowling.

 _Marcy-_

 _When you're done being a drama queen please come to bed. I'm sorry about your pasta dish. I love you._

 _Bonnie x_

"Wow, passive aggressive much?" Marcy murmured to herself. She took the sandwiches out of the fridge anyway and grabbed a glass of water with them before she took the whole midnight snack back upstairs.

There was soft snoring from the main bedroom and Marceline paused in the hall, wondering if she should go wake her partner up. But her stomach growled and her anger from earlier hadn't really gone anywhere, it still coiled through her like a furious itch just below her skin. Bonnie was so _smug_ sometimes, she just had to be the best at everything. And apparently she now had to be the best at being totally forgiving and perfect and wanted to make up even when Marcy was the one being completely unreasonable-

The realisation that she'd been acting like a giant dilweed hit Marcy square between the eyes. She'd yelled at Bonnie, insulted her, walked out on her before giving her a chance to explain and dragged up irrelevant stuff from the past. And the redhead had still given her space to cool down and even left her something to eat in the fridge for later. She slid noiselessly back into her study and sat much more carefully at the desk, picking at the sandwiches although she'd lost most of her appetite the same time she'd lost the moral high ground. Eventually she sighed and stood, flicking the lights off and making her way down the dark hall with long practice. It was a cold night still and she paused at the hall window to look out over the garden in the moonlight to gather her thoughts. It was still mostly dead but there were the odd shoots of snowdrops and early crocuses poking through the overgrown grass. Pretty soon Bonnie would be spending her weekend afternoons happily planting and pruning and throwing about horticultural terms like a pro. Marcy would normally be hefting huge pots of earth for her or digging holes for new plants and complaining about her nails getting dirty but this year she'd be excused any heavy duties, she'd be lucky to be allowed to carry Bonnie's box of seeds. Her girlfriend was working so hard to try to make everything nice for her and Marcy had ruined it with her stupid mood swings and hissy fits over nothing. It took a long time for Marceline to regain her composure again before she slipped into the bedroom they shared and settled onto the bed next to her sleeping partner.

...

Warm arms sliding around her stomach woke Bonnie and for a long moment she just lay quietly staring into the darkness and trying to remember what she'd planned to say. She honestly hadn't expected Marceline to sulk for long enough that she'd end up falling asleep alone and despite the short speech she'd prepared Bonnie found herself with no idea what she'd wanted to say other than being glad the other woman had finally come to bed. So she just rolled over and pressed her lips sleepily against Marcy's and threading her hands through the silk of long, inky hair that she'd missed when she went to bed.

"I'm sorry." Marcy murmured into the darkness when she finally pulled away. "I've been an unforgivable butthole tonight."

"Shh, it doesn't matter. I'm just glad you didn't stay away all night." Bonnie whispered. She moved across so there was more room in the bed and Marcy slipped under the duvet next to her.

"No, but really." the brunette pressed. "I was so rude to you, I yelled at you and acted like such a child and I know you were just trying to help me out."

"I'd kinda guessed you were having a mood swing." Bonnie replied as she wrapped her arms around the taller woman.

"It's just this whole situation with Theresa, I don't like that she's trying push her way into my life and stuff. It feels like she's trying to be my mother and I really don't want or need that. I guess... I think I still have some weird leftover feelings about my Mum and how she just left me and how I kinda developed some issues and stuff from that. I don't even really remember anything from before she left. Babe, I think I might wanna book in to see a therapist. You know, before the babies arrive. I don't want my stupid hangups to stop me being the best mother I can be for them."

It wasn't like Bonnie hadn't already come to that conclusion for herself, she'd actually realised many years before that Marceline wasn't as healed from her mother's death as she thought she was. But it would have done no good at all to push her to talk to someone unless she broached the subject first. Mostly the redhead was just glad her partner wanted to talk to someone about the things that had happened when she was a child.

"You know I'll always have your back if you wanna get some therapy. And hey, I didn't realise you felt so strongly about the kitchen. I'll back off and let you have your space in there." she replied quietly.

"No, you don't need to do that. I just, can we cook together? I like being involved in stuff like that. I guess I felt kinda left out." Marcy said. She buried her face against the redhead's shoulder and let out a long sigh. "I don't like change. And things are already changing and they're gonna change more, dramatically. I'm sorry if I'm a bitch right now."

"But you know what? You can be as much of a bitch as you need. I don't know first-hand how pregnancy hormones are but I can see you need to blow off steam sometimes. So yeah, just let me know when you want me to back up and give you space. Hey Marcy? What are you even wearing?"

Marcy flushed, she hadn't changed into her pyjamas yet. In fact she was still wearing the gifts TT had brought for her.

"Umm, a very unflattering pregnancy kaftan and maternity leggings. They're so unstylish but crazy comfortable, like even Lady didn't have any helpful suggestions now that my bump's bigger than any of hers were. But TT came by again today and brought me these, apparently they were all she wore towards the end of her own pregnancy. I didn't even know she had a kid. God, I don't want a step-brother either."

"Oh, she's got a son?" Bonnie asked in surprise.

"Yeah, his name's Sweet little Peter and the way she talks about him you'd think he was some kinda saint. I wonder if he's met Daddy yet." Marcy replied.

"Huh, that's gonna make for an awkward next Christmas. Are you sleeping in those or what?"

In the end it was too late and too dark and just too much damn effort to root around in the dresser for some fresh pyjamas so Marcy just curled up in one of her maternity vests and let Bonnie get into position around her with one hand resting protectively on her bump. They both let out a small contented sigh at the same time and then giggled at their accidental synchronization.

"D'you sometimes feel like we're slowly fusing into one person?" Marcy asked sleepily.

"Nah, you still have awful fashion sense." Bonnie replied, smiling against her hair.

"Bitch."

"Hobo."

"Love you.

"Love you too. Sleep well, sweetie."

Probably some time soon they'd need to talk more about the argument and about Marcy's issues and how Bonnie would fit into the more domestic side of their home life now that she was reducing her hours at work. But for that night they were content to simply snuggle up together and share sleepy kisses and silent relief at being reunited.


	27. Week 27

**This week's chapter comes seasoned with the tears of my proof readers. Well at least one of them. It's not quite as good as being flavoured with the blood of my foes but guys come on, I'm working on that. So, y'know, take that as a warning that if you have parent issued you might wanna have some tissues at the ready.**

 **I'd like to take the opportunity to thank my lovely reviewers, you guys rock! No really, every time I see a notification for a review pop up it makes my day. I spend usually at least a couple of nights on each chapter, sunset to sunrise, and knowing that you guys appreciate the effort I put in is pretty awesome. Even just dropping me a word or two to let me know what you think is so appreciated.**

 **Aaaand you know what time it is now, right? PLUG TIME! The Ties That Bind Us is finished but lo! there is a sequel. And it is good. I was trying to think of a creative way to plug it but naaah, just go read it it's awesome.**

 **Content warning: innuendo, conflict, homophobic language, historical violence, a BMO cameo, feels.**

* * *

"My wrist hurts."

"Don't you dare stop now."

"Marcy come on, how much longer do I have to keep doing this?"

"Until it's done! Don't make me finish it off myself! Put some effort into it."

"Urgh, fine!"

"Woah, slow down or it'll splatter everywhere! Steady and firm, controlled movements."

"Jesus this is ridiculous. Why are we even doing this?"

"Cause you pestered me until I let you do it. And you can't stop now. Just keep up a good steady rhythm and pretend your wrist isn't cramping. Yeah, like that. That's great, keep going exactly like that and don't stop for anything. A bit more... yep! And, we're done. You can stop now."

"Wait, that's it? I thought I'd be able to tell when it was done."

"You just need to know what you're looking for, pay attention to what you're doing. It's just practice. Look at you, you made cheese sauce! And you didn't let it get lumpy! I'm so proud of you, babe."

Bonnie huffed quietly and put down the whisk. She stared sceptically into the pan at the cheese sauce while she massaged her aching wrist.

"It seems like a lot of work to make something that we could have just opened a jar for instead." she muttered.

"You wanted me to show you how to cook. You insisted. I can't be held responsible if you decide to try making cheese sauce, I warned you it's hell on the wrists." Marcy replied with a shrug. Then she scooped up a little of the gloopy sauce on one pinkie and popped it in her mouth, ignoring Bonnie's protests to use a spoon.

"Delicious. Much better than out of a jar." she confirmed. Bonnie glared pointedly at the finger she still had in her mouth. "What? Oh like you've never had bits of my body in your food before."

"There was a spoon _right there._ You're such a barbarian!" the redhead sighed.

"Whatever, nerd. Come on, let's eat. I feel like my stomach is slowly digesting itself." Marcy replied with a fond eye roll. Next second she'd grabbed the pan and was enthusiastically pouring cheese sauce over two plates of pasta and mushrooms.

"I dunno how Jake does this all day every day. I'm exhausted just from fixing one pan of sauce." Bonnie continued as they took their food through to the dining table. "I mean, I'm sure it tastes good but is it really worth all the effort just to fill up your stomach?"

"Please, I lived with Jake right through his fancypants chef training. This is nothing compared to what he can do. I've seen that guy make a perfect soufflé when he was so drunk he could hardly stand up." Marcy replied around a mouthful of pasta.

"There's a skill to put on job applications." Bonnie mumbled around her own food.

"You're just jealous."

"Yeah, I'm so jealous of Jake's abilities to drunkenly soufflé things. I wish I'd spent more time in uni cooking while hammered instead of memorising the mechanism of action in novel chemotherapy drugs."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Bon."

"And smugness doesn't suit you but here we are."

Marceline put down her fork with a sigh and glared across the table at her girlfriend.

"Why are you trying to start a fight?" she asked tiredly.

"I'm not, I thought we were just messing around. I'm sorry sweetie, I was just... I didn't mean anything by it." Bonnie replied.

"Kay. But Jake's my best friend, let's not get too bitchy about his career choices. He could have been a musician or a doctor too but he wanted to be a chef, said studying music took all the fun out of it. I don't think he's even touched his viola since he announced he was dropping out to go to catering college and that was at the start of our second year of bachelors degree. The important thing is that he's happy in his job, it's more than a lot of people have."

"Sorry, love. I'm glad Jake's happy." Bonnie replied quietly.

Dinner was an almost silent affair after that, each lost in their own thoughts. Bonnie was very aware that her girlfriend was a little on edge and that it was because she was worrying about her first therapy session the next evening. But like always Marceline needed time to think through what she wanted to say before she shared anything, she wasn't someone who could be rushed. So Bonnie held her peace and let her mind wander while Marcy sighed and prodded at her food.

She was still very quiet when they were climbing into bed a few hours later and Bonnie was perfectly prepared to wait it out; she figured Marceline was going to do her usual emotional cold shouldering until the stressful moment had passed. So when a voice softly spoke her name right on the edge of sleep it took the redhead a moment to realise she wasn't dreaming it.

"Bonnie?"

"Mm?"

"What if they tell me I'm crazy tomorrow?"

"Why would they do that? You're not crazy."

Marcy paused before she replied, Bonnie could feel her ribs expand with a couple of calming deep breaths before she continued.

"Cause sometimes I get so lost in my own head and I can be so sad and moody, sometimes it's hard work just to do the basic stuff. You know? And what if I have a previously undiagnosed mental health problem and they decide the twins are better off with someone else and they take them into care? I was so lucky, Simon and Betty were brilliant. But loads of foster carers are awful, I heard horror stories from other foster kids growing up. And I don't want our babies to get sick, I want them to be healthy and happy and not constantly worrying about being abandoned or losing someone important like I am. What if I'm just a crappy parent? I-"

"Marcy, love, stop. You're getting worried over nothing again." Bonnie replied softly. She carefully tightened her hold on the taller woman and nuzzled her face lovingly into Marcy's shoulder.

"I'm just scared I'll fuck everything up." Marcy whispered into the darkness.

"I've heard that's a pretty normal thing to worry about. And what do you think the chances are that you have a serious mental health problem that you've managed to keep hidden from your doctor girlfriend for eight years?"

"You're not a head doctor."

"I still know what crazy looks like. You're not crazy, love. You've got your issues like everyone else but they don't qualify you as crazy. At best you're pleasantly quirky."

"You're just trying to make me feel better." Marcy muttered.

"Yeah. And? Did it work?"

"Yeah. Dammit."

...

In the grey light of morning the fears of the night before seemed smaller and so much more easily vanquished. It was just another routine day in the music department and in one of those weird coincidences Marceline had been thinking about Bongo and Guy and the likelihood they would actually make it all work out in New York together. She realised the flaw in her plan about three seconds after Keila unexpectedly stormed into her office with a face like thunder.

"Kei-"

"Did you know? Did you recommend them? And not me? I thought we were _friends!"_ the younger woman snarled furiously.

"Eberhardt was looking for a violist, you don't play the viola!" Marcy replied a little desperately. She should have realised Keila would take it personally, she should have thought of a better plan.

"So how come Bongo's queeny little butt buddy is going with him? Huh? Or am I just not enough of a fucking _faggot_ for you to recommend me to anyone?"

Marcy's temper, so rarely completely under her control anyway, instantly flared to the surface. There weren't many words that instantly set her off but that was one of them.

"Excuse me? You think this has anything to do with _orientation_? One more homophobic remark out of you and you can kiss goodbye to your doctorate and your career, you'll be lucky to set foot in a performance hall again. It had everything to do with professionalism and ability, nothing to do with Bongo coming out. Eberhardt heard all three of you play so if he didn't approach you with a job offer then you can draw the logical conclusion that he didn't think you'd fit into his damn orchestra. I thought we were friends too but looks like I was wrong." she snapped back.

"Like you give a shit about what I call them! You're not even a guy much less a guy who sleeps with guys. You have literally nothing in common."

She took a moment to examine Keila's flushed, blotchy face lined with hurt and betrayal. For all her talk of professionalism she'd been friends with Keila straight away, they'd always spoken casually to each other. And Keila didn't understand why her friend had passed her over when there was a career opportunity. For Marceline it was a lot like looking into the past at herself around the time she'd finished her masters degree. Marcy felt her anger disappear as quickly as it had started.

"You know what, Kei? I do understand. I'd have been mad as hell if Eb had pulled the same stunt with me when I was a student." Marcy told her in a much calmer voice.

"Then why did you do it? If you knew I'd be hurt by it?" Keila pleaded.

"Simply because it wasn't a good fit for you. You know what I've come to realise? You're way too much like me. And I really needed to take a step back and learn how to be a team player someplace I could just get on with being myself instead of being some rising star protégée. So no, I didn't recommend you to Eb and I'm not gonna apologise for that. You're not what he was looking for and I don't think being in that sorta environment would do anything but make you miserable. But you are pretty much what _I'm_ looking for. If I talk to the university how would you feel about covering my maternity leave? You'd only be temporary for the year but it's a pretty impressive first job right out of graduation and I doubt you'd want to lecture long term anyway. Just, to give you some experience of something other than cut-throating other string players."

Keila gaped at her like Marceline had just offered her a slice of moon cheese on a silver plate. The curly haired woman sank down into the empty chair on the other side of Marcy's desk and blinked in confusion, anger evaporating like it had never even been there.

"But I don't have any experience." she finally mumbled. Marcy grinned.

"Why do you think I asked you to cover so many of my lectures this year?"

"Cause you're lazy?"

"Ha ha. No, cause I thought it would be a good fit for you. I'm about ninety percent certain that when I do come back from maternity leave it'll be part time anyway so they're quite likely to extend you, I figured you'd make a pretty excellent heir apparent. Can't let Bonnie stay home with the twins too much or their first words will be some incomprehensible medical junk. And it's kinda silly but I don't wanna miss too much. Their first years are so important. I'll need someone to hold the fort here but who won't wanna stay forever and steal my job. You'd be perfect. If you cut out the casual homophobia, cause that shit hurts everyone." Marcy finished with a pointed look. Keila hung her head in shame.

"I was just jealous." she muttered at her shoes.

"Yeah, I got that too. Just try to reel it back a little, ok? For you it's just angry words. For me it's my reality, every second of every day. I've taken more than just verbal attacks over my sexuality in the past, I don't like to hear words like that thrown as a weapon at anyone."

Keila looked up at her, shocked. Marcy laughed a little hollowly at the innocence on her friend's face; it had been years since Ash or anyone else had raised a hand to her and called her a faggot but those kinds of emotional wounds didn't heal easily. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair self-consciously.

"I was in school, I came out, I suffered for being the only out lesbian in my year. I was also the only half Indian girl, the only foster child. I was an easy target and words like 'faggot' hurt just as much as words like 'Paki' or 'family reject'. So no, I'm not a gay man. But I still don't wanna hear you call anyone a faggot ever again. You got me? It's about not being an asshole." Marcy told her seriously. Keila nodded.

"Sorry. I, uh, yeah. Sorry. I won't say it again." she mumbled, ashamed.

"Cool. We can just forget it then. Hey, you need to get your maternity cover application in soon though, I'm leaving in about three weeks and the department want me to arrange cover before then. So stick an application in and we'll run through a quick interview and I'll show you the predicted grade boundaries this year's haul of undergrads are aiming at. And you get all the fun of grading their awful essays. But the postgrads are pretty cool, you'll like them I think." she added with a lopsided smile.

Keila stood, still obviously ashamed of herself, and nodded to the older woman.

"Thanks. I mean, for everything. Like, how do you always manage to be so cool? I dunno if I can quite fill those shoes but I'll try. Thanks for looking out for me." she muttered before making a hasty exit. Marceline just shook her head helplessly as the door closed behind Keila.

"Babies? You guys are gonna be even worse to try to help aren't you?" she asked her stomach conversationally. "At least I've got some parenting experience under my belt before you arrive."

The only reply she got was a little fluttering shift low down in her abdomen but it was early afternoon and they were obviously napping so Marcy just smoothed a hand down her oversize sweater and went back to brooding over her therapy session later that day.

...

In the end it wasn't really as bad as Marcy had thought it would be. She sat for an hour and told a sympathetic older woman therapist about her childhood and her fears that losing her mother so young would affect her ability to parent her twins as well as she wanted to. Mostly she just spoke and spoke, amazed by how easy it was to open up to a stranger when she knew they were expressly there just to listen to her. She didn't feel like her worries were that much more resolved by the end of the session but perhaps she did feel more peaceful, better for getting it all off her chest. So often these days she felt like she was swinging from serene and calm to a nervous wreck without any middle ground. For a few moments Marcy wondered if she had anyone she could talk to about that without piling yet more stress on Bonnie and then her bag started vibrating like it was psychic. With a grin she pulled her mobile out and slid a finger across the screen to answer Lady's call.

"Yo, Yummy Mummy. What's up?"

"Marcy? Are you home? I could use somewhere to escape for a while, if you're not busy do you wanna hang? The kids are driving me crazy and- _KIM I SAID NO, PUT IT DOWN!-_ and Jake's actually home for once so I figured he could spend some alone time with them and we could talk weddings or something."

"Uh, yeah. I'm just in town at the minute, do you wanna come meet me and we'll grab dinner someplace? Bonnie's gonna be late home, some doctor ethics committee thing or other."

There was no reply for a long moment except the scrunch of a phone being held against the fabric of a shirt and muffled shouting.

 _"-DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE RUNNING A BATH FOR THE BLOODY POPE, JAKE! IT'S ALL OVER THEM AND I TOLD YOU NOT TO GIVE THEM YOGURT!_ Sorry, Marcy. Junior painted herself and TV in banana flavour yogurt and most of the sofa too and Charlie put my expensive perfume in the microwave today, you know the Chanel No. 5 Jake got me for Christmas? So now the whole house smells like burning chemicals and electrics and we need a new microwave. Where do you wanna meet?"

Lady made it to the shopping centre in record time, looking pale and exhausted but sparing a weary smile and a hug for her friend when she spotted Marcy loitering in front of the bridal shop.

"Thinking of finally making an honest woman of Bonnibel?" she asked teasingly when the taller woman let her go.

"I would but she doesn't believe in it. Says she doesn't know why we have to copy traditional straight relationships just to be accepted as a couple. Pretty sure if I bought her an engagement ring Bon would laugh in my face." Marcy sighed. "I was looking for you, since you're about to get wifed up and all."

"Oh did I tell you we set a date?" Lady asked with another smile.

"No? But that's awesome!"

"April sixteenth. I know it's only a couple months away but they had a cancelation at the registry office and Jake didn't want to wait. Sometimes he's not a _complete_ oaf."

They spent a couple of fun hours laughing together over ugly dresses and coming up with extravagant combinations of enormous veils, jewelled satin slippers and the trashiest tiaras they could find. Lady was adamant she was having a simple, elegant gown and understated bouquet of champagne coloured calla lilies. Once the assistants in the bridal shop were clearing their throats and shooting significant glances at the door the two women took the hint and headed down the street towards Treehouse for a free dinner, still laughing over the less than appealing bridal wear.

Jake was at home with the kids so it was his business partner's son Bruno Maurizio who seated them and took their order with a flourish. The small, curly haired boy was usually just known as B-Mo to everyone but his father. More and more these days Maurizio Senior stayed in the office and let Jake and his son handle the practical side of things, he was an elderly Italian man with bad health and Jake was anticipating that any day now he might want to sell his half of the restaurant.

"Spinach and ricotta cannelloni for the lovely Lady and a rosemary and pancetta pizza bianco without the poison garlic for her very pretty friend." B-Mo winked as he slid two plates onto the table for them. "Will Mr Madigan be joining us tonight?"

"Oh I hope not. By now I expect he's elbow deep in banana yogurt and baby poop." Lady replied happily. B-Mo shot her a politely confused look.

"He's doing the hands on fathering thing, apparently his offspring have been exercising their inner Jakes all at the same time." Marcy supplied.

"They are all very... spirited. And a credit to you both." B-Mo replied happily. He adored children and more than once he'd spent a quiet evening in the office behind the restaurant kitchen entertaining Jake and Lady's older kids with a few retro video games consoles and elaborate fantasy stories he made up on the fly. The boy had more imagination than anyone else Marcy had ever met, he was one of those people who instantly charmed everyone and put them at ease.

"So fill me in on everything." Marcy nodded around a mouthful of pizza. Lady sighed and fiddled with her fork for a moment before replying.

"I don't wanna scare you or put you off parenting or anything. But it's like they were possessed today. The second I got the older two from school Kim was up a height and agitated, Charlie was in one of her biting moods and they kept winding the little ones up. So. Charlie bit Jake's finger hard enough to bleed while I was getting ready to come meet you because he told he she wasn't a dragon. Kim wanted to know what I was working on with our latest court case and wouldn't stop trying to get into my laptop, in the end he dropped it down the stairs and broke the lid. So now I have to pull all the files off the harddrive and get it fixed before the senior partners find out. I told you Junior incinerated an almost full bottle of Chanel No. 5? Apparently she deliberately peed on the naughty chair at nursery today too. And I know it's because they're excited by the upcoming wedding and stuff but honestly tonight I just wanted to cry. Then Jake came home and decided he needed a hot bath because he'd had a long day? Oh and TV was so proud of taking himself to the potty for a poop without help that he scooped it up and handed it to me as proof. I was making their dinner, next second I had a pan full of vegetables boiling over and flooding the cooker top and a handful of baby shit and TV just staring up at me like he'd done something ever so clever and- Sorry. I just needed to get out for a bit. Thanks for always being my escape plan."

"Hey B-Mo, can I get a Heart of Darkness Margarita over here? It's for Lady, quit giving me the evil eye." Marcy told him as he passed their table.

"You're the best." Lady murmured a little tearfully.

"Just looking out for my buddy." Marcy replied cheerfully. "Besides I'm sure one day soon I'll need you to return the favour when the twins are driving me crazy."

"Deal. We can be each other's Mummy rescue buddy." Lady agreed.

A couple of cocktails and some laughter worked wonders and by the time Marcy dropped Lady off at her front door the other woman was smiling happily again. Marceline checked her phone before heading home to find a hasty message from Bonnie; her meeting had overrun and she was still at work finishing stuff that couldn't wait. With a sigh Marcy headed home to a dark, empty house and the nagging feeling that however stressed Bonnie was now it was only going to get worse when their twins arrived.

...

The sound of quiet sobbing that filled the house hit Bonnie's ears the moment she stepped through the door an hour later. Fearing the worst she immediately dropped her briefcase and sprinted for the stairs, up to the spare bedroom they're agreed to convert into a nursery where Marcy had stored the boxes she'd taken from her foster parents' place.

"Sweetie, what happened?" Bonnie asked as gently as her pounding heart and sudden fear spike would allow. Marceline was sitting on the floor with her head in her hands, silky sheets of dark hair falling over her face and hiding her from view. There was the shattered glass of an old photoframe and a half unpacked box next to her. At least Bonnie's initial terror that something had happened to the babies seemed unfounded.

"I was looking through the stuff from Simon and Betty, I found a letter. From my Mum." Marcy croaked around her tears. "About why she left me and went away to die alone. I- I can't... here."

She held out a folded slip of yellowing note paper in trembling hands and Bonnie took it carefully, sliding down onto the carpet next to her partner and automatically pulling Marcy into her lap as she scanned the letter. With every line the redhead had to remind herself that the least helpful thing she could do would be to explode with righteous anger for her girlfriend or express her disgust at quite how selfish and deluded the letter's writer had been.

 _My darling daughter,_

 _I know it will be a few years before you're old enough to understand this letter but it's becoming increasingly clear to me that I won't be around to have this conversation with you face to face. I need you to know that more than anything I love you with my whole heart. And I need you to understand that I have to leave because I love you more than anything in the world. Because I can't bear knowing how badly it would hurt you to see me at the end. I won't even look like me, I don't want you to have to see it. I'd do anything to keep you happy my darling, and if that means staying away from you for your own good then that's what I'll do._

 _More than anything else I regret that I won't be here to see you grow. I have so many ideas about what you might become and I want you to know that I'll love you and be proud of you no matter what. You're curious, artistic, adventurous. You'll go far whatever life you choose for yourself. Perhaps you won't even remember me so well. If our parting is as traumatic for you as it is for me then you might choose to forget. So I'll put as much of our relationship into this letter as possible. I want you to know about the hours and miles we walked together back and forth in front of the kitchen window with you in my arms when you couldn't sleep as a baby. The way you'd giggle so hard when I washed your hair, you always said the water tickled your ears. Or the first time I took you swimming, the way you flung yourself into the pool like a little duckling. I hope you can remember some of that, some of the love between us even if you can't really remember me. You've made me happier in the last six years than the whole of my life before you, my sweet little girl._

 _You are my beautiful moonchild, my life's work. You have your father's eyes, his temper. You're so like him but I can see myself in you, too. Your imagination and creative flair, your empathy and compassion. Right from your very first breath you were the best of us both. I always said you were like a little fairy, like one of the fair folk. I hope their luck and magic follows you into your adult life and that you never lose touch with that ethereal connection to the spirit world that we share. I'll be on the other side of that connection soon enough but I want you to know I'm not scared to die. I have my faith and I know I'm leaving the best of myself in the world. And I know you'll be happy, you'll make your father happy. One day you'll have a husband and a family of your own and I hope then that you'll understand why I made the choices I did. Because you are too precious to be hurt by watching me die, you deserve better._

 _You'll be in my heart until the very end, my little darling._

 _Love, Mum xxx_

"I spent all those years trying my hardest not to hate her." Marcy whispered once her girlfriend's eyes had finished sweeping over the rows of neat writing. "I wanted to hate her at first but I missed her so badly. I think I might hate her again. How could she think she was going away to protect me? How was leaving without a word better for me?"

"I know, love." Bonnie replied softly. It was all she could say, because if she started saying anything else then she'd suddenly start revealing how she'd long suspected Marceline's mother hadn't been the wonderful saint her daughter believed her to be. That leaving without a word, not even bothering to explain to her daughter that she was sick, those were the actions of someone deeply selfish and rather detached from reality. As well as the casual assumption that Marceline would grow up to have a husband and family, that the default trajectory of her daughter's life would include marriage to a man. Very little that Bonnie had ever heard about her girlfriend's mother had led her to believe the woman had been anything but self-absorbed, conceited and reckless. They were the same negative character traits that Marceline herself possessed, although they were countered by a wide streak of humility and selflessness as well as a general insecurity about her place in the world caused mostly by growing up gay in a straight world and the traumatic loss of her stable family home at an age when she was too young to understand why it was happening. All of those thoughts crowded Bonnie's brain and hammered against her self-control, begging to be voiced. But she swallowed the words back and instead offered her partner silent comfort, rocking her gently and running her hands across the taller woman's back until Marcy had cried herself dry.

"She wouldn't have approved." Marceline finally said, barely above a whisper. "She wanted me to have a husband and start a traditional family. She didn't even believe in science. Bon, she'd have hated you."

"And you know what? I would have put up with that. For you. I'd have bitten my tongue and been nothing but polite and friendly to her if that's what you'd needed me to be. The important thing was that she loved you. Even if she made bad choices, for whatever reason, she did it because she genuinely thought it was best for you." Bonnie replied as carefully as she could.

The boiling anger at Marceline's mother was still fizzing through her veins but it was the same rage that she'd successfully kept a lid on for the best part of eight years. Bonnie squashed those feelings back down ruthlessly, knowing that soon she'd be making another trip to the gym to vent them harmlessly against a punch bag. But for that night she would be nothing but calm and loving, gentle with her distressed partner. So despite the impotent fury that still glowed like a banked fire in her heart Bonnie put all of her own feelings to one side and tenderly soothed her partner, helping her stand and leading her down the hall to their bedroom then wrapping her into a loving embrace when they lay together. Bonnie stayed awake for a long time that night, listening to Marceline mutter restlessly in her sleep and soothing the frown from her brow whenever the taller woman grimaced at her dreams. At some point in the early hours Bonnie finally fell into dreams of her own, about their twins and the children they might have in the future and how she would feel to turn away from that family without a single word and just disappear. In the morning when she woke the sense that she'd rather die slowly in the most painful way possible than hurt her children by abandoning them lingered right through the day. Bonnie found herself looking at the parents of the sick kids in her care and wondering if every single one of them felt the same fierce, protective love for their family that was growing in her own heart and how any mother could abandon her child for any reason. Marceline didn't ask why Bonnie bought her flowers on her way home from work that night or ran her a bubble bath and let her pick the movie they snuggle up on the sofa with, she just accepted the comfort with quiet gratitude.


	28. Week 28

***Insert the usual lateness apology here***

 **No but I have been legit ill yet again. And weirdly lacking motivation to write? But tonight the fiction spirits were with me, as soon as I began the chapter just wrote itself. There's a couple of notes that go with it, mostly because I went to the effort of researching them and want to share. How expensive are antique harps? Hella. And I have it on good authority that the loss of an instrument to a musician is like the loss of a family member. So this chapter is 100% dedicated to the loving memory of a beautiful trombone taken too soon from this world. Fare thee well, trombone, may the angels forever keep your spit valves clean.**

 **As ever SO MUCH DAMN LOVE to my BFF IAmTheTrashPanda not just for being a valuable resource but for her moral and emotional support too. Like, life is tough and stuff, you know? And sometimes we need someone to lean on. Pandas make for excellent support. Also her fic The Choices We Make continues apace, and things are starting to get interesting. How interesting is it gonna get? Well that would be saying. But I think you're gonna like it. Fanchildren, even I was shocked by the plot twists. READ IT cause it's too damn good to miss.**

 **Content Warning: Wolves! Destruction! Metaphors! Face Sucking! Oh myyyyy!**

* * *

It was Marcy's usual Wednesday afternoon wander around the shops and she was wondering if buying six pairs of maternity leggings was excessive or just practical. She could live without the awful kaftan but damn Theresa Trunks and her meddling, the leggings were amazingly comfortable. And then her phone rang. Marcy fished it out of her bag with a sigh, hoping it might be Lady who could give her some much needed legging quantity advice. But when Finn's name flashed up on the screen she frowned and hurriedly answered the call.

"Finn? What's up? You ok? You're not hurt again are you?"

"Hey, I'm fine. Stop being such a Mum, I'm allowed to call you for no reason aren't I?"

"Not really. You don't call for no reason. You don't like chatting on the phone, you made a mildly homophobic remark about it one time and I told you off. Remember?"

"Look, whatever. I need your advice."

"Uhh, ok? Like, just general life advice? I'm glad you asked. Ok, so pink isn't an emasculating colour any more but you're too blonde to pull it off so stick to blue, um, make sure you compliment your date on an aspect of their appearance that they obviously took time over like their hair or nails or something, learn to tie a bow tie even if you don't need it right now cause if the situation arises unexpectedly-"

"Marcy." he cut her off, sounding more annoyed than amused. "Stop. No. I don't need your half-assed life hacks. You're literally just repeating crap you read on the internet. It's about Phoebe."

"Oh, _that_ kinda advice. Again, I'm glad you asked. Lydia wasn't shy about sharing that there were a few areas you could improve on. First off, foreplay doesn't mean when you take your shoes off-"

"Marcy!"

She grinned, pleased with herself. Finn's embarrassment was practically radiating down the phone.

"You're so gross! Ew! I do not need your bedroom advice to satisfy my girlfriend!" he practically wailed in horror.

"Ooh so she's your _girlfriend_ again, huh?" Marcy teased. She slid her purse out too and nodded to herself, she'd get all six pairs of leggings and then she wouldn't need to come back.

"Yeah. And Valentine's is in like, two days."

"And you don't know what to get her."

He sighed down the line, she could almost see him pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Yeah. I want her to think I put a lot of thought into her present, you know?"

"But without actually putting any thought into it. Gotcha. Well my best advice is to get her something you know she's really into. Has she said she's super into anything?" Marcy asked distractedly as she juggled the phone, her bag and the basket of clothes she was buying at the cash register and shot an apologetic smile to the bored looking cashier.

"Well, she's got a thing about wolves." Finn hedged uncertainly.

"Yeah. Get her a wolf, that sounds nice." Marcy nodded absentmindedly. One year Bonnie had bought her a stuffed bear in the mistaken belief that she collected them because she still had Hambo. It was still in her closet somewhere, next to a bottle of overpowering perfume her father had gotten her for Christmas the same year. She'd had vague plans about giving them away as raffle prizes or something if anyone needed them, certainly she hadn't planned on keeping them that long. They'd need to have a thorough clean out before the babies arrived anyway. Marcy realised that she'd been hearing Finn talk for a little while without listening to him and hurriedly tuned back in, damning her baby hormones screwing with her attention span.

"-seems a bit of a big commitment? Or do you think it's gonna be ok?" he was saying in a voice laced with anxiety.

"Nah dude, it'll be fine. Go for it. Like, leave it in her bedroom and see if she notices it, it'll be a cute surprise." Marcy replied with a shake of her head as she accepted the bag of clothes the cashier handed her and made for the exit.

"I'm pretty sure she'll notice, but ok. If you think that's a good idea."

"I do. One hundred percent. It's a brilliant plan and will definitely result in her loving you forever." Marcy replied confidently.

Finn said his goodbyes and hung up the line, muttering about having to make some calls and see what he could come up with. Marcy didn't know why it was such a big deal for him to find a nice stuffed wolf toy but she supposed he was going to call different shops, see what their price range was. She'd half forgotten about it by the time she was opening her umbrella on the rainy street; the babies were kicking harder than ever and she was planning what she could teach Bonnie to cook that night, assuming the redhead wasn't too exhausted from work. The fact that Finn had never specified a stuffed wolf toy rather than an actual wolf never crossed her mind, he would never be that dumb. Right?

...

By Valentine's morning Marcy had forgotten all about Finn's present buying crisis. She was back in the hospital for the next growth scan and had a surprise for her girlfriend in the form of a new picture to put with her collection in her office. Bonnie hadn't been available for the actual ultrasound yet again but Marcy was fine with that, she was less stressed by the ideas of the scans every time she had one. Instead of interrupting the overrunning surgical procedure Bonnie was involved in Marcy stepped out afterwards and made her way to the small print shop in town that was conveniently quite close to the hospital. It was a good thing too, she figured, because she wasn't walking more than she had to for Bonnie's Valentine present. Twenty minutes later she was back hanging around Bonnie's office with a gift bag and card, just in time to see Dr King march past and do a hilarious double take when he saw the size of her bump.

"Good morning, Julian." Marcy greeted him with a friendly and entirely faked innocent smile.

"Er... hello, there. Um." he replied uncomfortably. It couldn't be clearer he'd forgotten her name; Marcy's smile widened slightly and took on a predatory edge.

"Just waiting for my lady love to finish up with her morning's doctor biz, I've got a Valentine's present for her." Marcy informed him with a conspiratorial wink.

"Oh. Right. Er, Dr Sugar might be a while." he replied awkwardly, shuffling his feet and glancing longingly towards the doors onto the paediatric oncology ward where he could be free from his boss' girlfriend's small talk.

"No worries, I'll wait for her. Took the whole day off just so I could surprise her. Is there anyone special in your life, Julian?" Marcy asked him with a wistful sigh. She had to suppress a laugh at the panic in his eyes.

"No, not as such."

"Oh, you poor dear. Well I hope you find your Mr or Mrs Right soon. You're far too much of a catch to make an old bachelor. You don't wanna miss out of on the joys of a family of your own. Tick tock, Julian." Marcy told him in her most innocent tones while she rubbed her bump and shot him a significant smile. Betty would have been proud, Marceline thought. She was using the exact same brand of pointedly sacastic civility that her foster mother had employed so effectively to silence all the gossipy old women in their village when she was small and they decided to make a fuss about that 'poor little half-caste fosterling the Petrikovs took in'.

"Yes, quite. Well I have a lot to be getting on with, so I better... leave. Excuse me." Dr King muttered before shuffling off along the corridor without a backwards glance.

"Bye, Julian!" Marcy called after him, unable to contain her triumphant grin. Anyone who made life hard for Bonnie was gonna catch it from her at every given opportunity and King had basically painted a target on his back. Next time she might bring Jake along to help, Marcy considered. He was a master of brilliant bullshit.

Forty five minutes later Bonnie walked into her office and nearly jumped out of her skin when she found her desk chair being swung in by a bored Marceline.

"Happy Valentine's, nerd. Your computer is password protected and your drawers are either locked or full of boring paperwork. I thought you might have something interested stashed in here but sadly your doctor persona is every bit as dull as I'd always suspected." Marcy told her by way of greeting.

"Marcy, get out of my chair. And you're not supposed to go through my drawers, some of that paperwork is confidential!" Bonnie sighed. "How did you even get in here?"

"As if I'd even want to read your boring medical paperwork. I was looking for the secret mini games console I'd definitely have hidden if this was my office. And Lyds came by a little while ago and let me in after a mandatory grope of my bump, she seemed to think I was being romantic instead of just annoying you. Ooh and I saw Dr King too, he didn't want to chat much. Odd sorta dude, isn't he? Seemed to almost flinch when I implied his Mrs Right could potentially be a Mr."

"That would explain why he coldly informed me that somebody called Martina was looking for me just now when I passed him in the corridor. I did wonder who he meant." Bonnie replied with a small smile as Marcy stood from her chair and let her sit.

"Same first three letters. He's getting closer, I have faith that one day he might actually get my name right." Marcy agreed. "Hey, I got you a present."

She handed the shiny pink gift bag to the redhead who investigated it with interest, grinning enthusiastically when she pulled out the photo frame wrapped in tissue paper.

"Oh, sweetie, it's gorgeous." Bonnie murmured, staring down at the professional print of that morning's scan photo that clearly showed their twins reaching out to each other as though they wanted to hug. Of course Bonnie was perfectly well aware that at only twenty eight weeks they had no concept of hugging and couldn't even really touch each other since they were in separate amniotic sacs but it was still adorable and she wasn't going to ruin the moment for Marceline. Her girlfriend had been unusually quiet all week since she'd found that letter from her mother and she'd booked a double appointment with her therapist for Monday but hadn't wanted to talk about it more. Bonnie had let her hold her peace. She was certain Marcy would eventually break her silence on the subject but like usual Bonnie knew not to try to rush her.

"Everything was perfect with them, they were very well behaved and James pointed out that the boy was practicing blinking." Marcy informed her, sliding her arms around Bonnie's shoulders and pulling her into as close a hug as she could around her rapidly growing bump.

"I'm glad. Hopefully they won't be totally annoying trouble makers like their Mum." Bonnie replied as she leaned into the hug. "But I'd be fine with them being totally adorable. Like their Mum."

Probably the hospital administrators would take a very dim view of their head of paediatric oncology making out in her office and not making the most of a quiet patch to catch up on paperwork. Bonnie couldn't find a single fuck to give about that though, she was too focussed on her wonderful girlfriend.

...

"Aunty Marcy! I wanna pet Cinnamon!"

Those were not the words she wanted to be greeted with that afternoon when she opened the door to a very harassed looking Jake and his entire brood of offspring. Charlie immediately charged past into the house and was bellowing for the cats before her father even had a chance to open his mouth.

"Hey Babygoth, I'm sorry to just drop by like this but I need to call in a favour. Dad's down with a nasty case of shingles and I had a Valentine's surprise planned for Lady. Can you pretty please with sprinkles on top take the kids for the night?" he pleaded.

"The whole night? Dude! It's Valentines for lesbians too you know." Marcy sighed, but she opened the door wider and took TV out of Jake's arms anyway.

"You're the best. Seriously. I've got all their overnight gear in the car, if you'll take them in I'll just run and get it." Jake replied with a relieved grin. "Just, I spent a lot of money on a nice hotel and Lady really deserves it, she's been so stressed recently. I think they're getting ready to offer her a partnership at the law firm but it doesn't come easy. I totally owe you one."

"Yeah you do. Come on inside then, kids. Who wants ice cream? Kim, if you dig out some spoons in the kitchen there's a tub of strawberry swirl in the bottom drawer of the freezer."

Junior had gotten bored and was already wandering around their messy front garden plucking handfuls of the mini double headed daffodils Bonnie had so laboriously planted in the autumn. The redhead wouldn't even be mad, Marcy knew. She had a soft spot for all of Jake's children but JJ especially had her Aunty Bonnie wrapped around her little finger.

So instead of her relaxing afternoon at home alone catching up on television boxsets of fantasy dramas and dark comedies Marceline found herself regretfully watching Peppa Pig over and over. Junior giggled, TV bounced, Violet napped and the older two entertained themselves by colouring in the handful of picture books Marcy kept for them. Her eyes were heavy and it was around the time of day she usually took a nap now what with being permanently exhausted from carrying two babies. Before she knew it Marcy was fast asleep on the sofa with TV sliding out of her lap and wobbling off across the floor to join his big brother and sisters as they crept upstairs without disturbing their sleeping aunt. The house was full of strange and exciting grown up stuff and TV wanted to go on an adventure.

The heavy thud of something breaking on the floor directly above her head and the sudden shriek of pain from a small child had Marcy jerking awake in panic and launching herself off the sofa towards the stairs as quick as possible. The music room door was open and Kim was frozen in horror while Charlie wailed on the floor amongst the wreckage of what until recently had been an obscenely expensive hand carved one-of-a-kind concert harp.

"I didn't do anything it fell over on its own I didn't mean to it was an accident!" Kim gabbled in terror as he took in the expression of glacial fury on his aunt's face. Charlie continued to howl and hold her finger up as proof of his obvious lie.

"Kim Kil Whan Madigan. Get your butt downstairs _right now_ and do not touch a single object. You'll sit on the sofa on your hands and not even _think_ about touching anything until I'm done checking over your sister. You are in a whole universe of trouble. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Aunt Marcy." he whispered as his shoulders began to shake with repressed tears and he slouched past her into the hall. She almost reached out for him because it was all kinds of painful to see her godson upset even if he'd brought it on himself. But the fury over her ruined harp was giving way to grief and Charlie still hadn't stopped crying. TV was peeking out from under a pile of scrunched up sheet music and Junior had put down the crayons she'd been drawing on more sheets of notation. Marcy took a breath and pushed her anger aside, they were too young to know better. Kim wasn't.

"Come here, darling. Lemme see. It's just a scratch." she sighed, pressing a kiss to Charlie's finger and gathering her into a hug. "Can you be a very special big girl and watch the little ones while I have a talk with your brother?"

"Mhm." Charlie whimpered around her pain. "We were playing music band and Kim got mad cause he wanted to be you but I said he couldn't cause he's a boy. He put paper up his shirt so he had a tummy like yours."

On one level it was utterly adorable. On another Marcy was still heartbroken over the loss of her harp. She just shook her head again and gently moved Charlie towards the door before gathering TV under one arm and Junior under the other and following her downstairs. Kim was sitting on his hands on the sofa staring at Violet who was crawling around by his feet trying to hand him crayons to cheer him up. He looked up when they entered the room but avoided Marcy's eyes, lower lip still trembling dangerously.

"Kim. Would you please come with me to the dining room? We need to have a talk." Marcy told him as calmly as she could. He got up and silently followed her, still with his eyes glued to the floor. As soon as the dining room door was closed he tried to wrap his arms around her waist and another little bit of Marcy's heart broke when she was forced to put out a hand and stop him.

"Not yet, buddy. We've gotta talk it out first."

"I'm sorry." Kim whispered. "I didn't mean to knock it over. We were just playing."

"I know. But some things aren't toys, Kim. That harp was a very important instrument and it can never ever be replaced. Do you understand that?" Marcy asked him as gently as she could. She crouched down to his level with difficulty and succeeded in catching his eye for a moment. Kim nodded and looked down again.

"Granddad gave me some pocket money. I can buy you a new one." he mumbled.

"It's not about the money, Kim. And I don't think you Granddad Joshua gave you enough pocket money to buy a hand finished concert harp. It's... instruments are almost alive, at least to musicians. Like me. They've got their own soul and their own personality. When you've had them as long as I've had that harp you get to know them like they were a member of the family. So if you lost your Dad or your Mum and I offered to just buy you a replacement it wouldn't be the same, would it?"

"No! But it's just a bit broke, you could glue it!" Kim said earnestly. His eyes were brimming with tears as she gazed down at him and all at once they spilled down his face. This time when Kim tried to wrap his arms around her Marcy let him, even rubbed a comforting hand over his back.

"It's not ever gonna sound the same if I glue it. But it doesn't matter, the harp is insured. I'll just miss all my memories with it. Just please promise you won't ever do anything like that ever again. Ok?" Marceline replied quietly against her godson's hair.

He was sobbing uncontrollably against her neck and honestly she knew how he felt. That harp had been an eighteenth birthday gift from her father and had signalled the beginning of their efforts to heal their fractious relationship. She'd known that harp much longer than she'd known Bonnie, she'd begun learning to play it before she even set foot on the grounds of the university she'd eventually wound up lecturing at. It really had been a part of the family; not anything she'd want to audition in a professional orchestra with but something she returned back to for the simple joy of it, something that soothed her and helped her calm her forebrain when she was bogged down with melancholy thoughts. And now it was basically just exquisitely carved firewood. But despite all that Marceline couldn't find it in her heart to stay mad at Kim for it. It was an accident, she knew he'd never destroy something precious to her on purpose. And the way he was howling with sadness and mumbling half coherent apologies made it clear he was more upset by the thought of losing her good favour than she was by losing her harp.

"Come on, buddy. Dry those tears, I forgive you." Marcy told Kim softly. His eyes were puffy and red, it took him a few minutes of shuddering sobs and deep breaths to get himself back under control.

"I love you, Aunty Marcy." Kim mumbled in a scratchy voice.

"I love you too, Kimbles. You wanna come watch some cartoons now?" she replied, brushing away the last of his tears with one hand and offering him a smile that wasn't as forced she'd feared it might be.

"Yeah. In a minute. I need to go let Cinnamon outta your spare cello case. Charlie put him there for a nap." Kim admitted sheepishly.

When they went back to the music room and opened the case together Cinnamon was curled up fast asleep with his front legs dyed in streaks of Charlie's favourite princess-pink pen.

...

The house was unusually quiet when Bonnie closed the front door behind herself that night. The lamps were lit in the lounge but the kitchen was dark and there was no scent of cooking food wafting through to greet her. Perhaps Marcy had decided to go out for dinner? But she hadn't mentioned dinner reservations that morning and due to her severe allergy to garlic there were only a handful of tried and tested restaurants Marceline was willing to go to. More likely she'd fallen asleep on the sofa again and had no idea what time it was.

The first thing Bonnie saw when she tiptoed through to the lounge was that someone had pulled all the cushions off the sofa and made a kind of tent with them using the guest blankets from the spare room as a canopy. Kim and Charlie were sitting outside the blanket fort talking in whispers and the minute they caught sight of her Charlie put her finger against her lips in a hushing motion.

"Hello guys, what are you doing here?" Bonnie whispered.

"Quiet, Aunty Bonnie. Everyone's napping." Charlie whispered back.

"Who's everyone?"

" _Everyone."_ Kim replied importantly. "We're on guard. Are you friend or foe?"

"That's my sofa, Kim. I own the fort." Bonnie reminded him. He sighed and wiggled to one side, holding the end of the blanket up reluctantly so she could go in.

"Aunty Bonnie? It was an accident." Kim told her seriously. Well, that was ominous. With a growing sense of dread Bonnie got down on her knees and crawled inside the blanket fort, trying not to feel like a completely idiot.

Marcy must have had help building the fort; the whole thing had a suspiciously professional feel to it. Her hunch was proved right when the first thing Bonnie saw was Finn curled up on his side holding a stuffed puppy toy, snoring quietly and illuminated by their Christmas fairy lights. There was a wealth of half-finished crayon pictures, empty juice cartons and various toys littering the floor and Marcy was asleep sitting half upright, propped against Finn's back with TV and Violet napping on her chest. Junior was sprawled on the other side of Finn closest to the door and her eyes opened at the movement. Next second she'd rocketed upright with a delighted squeal and thrown herself into Bonnie's arms.

"Aunty Bonnie! Uncle Finn gotta _puppy_!" she announced in a loud and very excited voice. Finn's eyes opened and he sat up, Marcy flopped back without his support and jerked awake with a snort and Violet began to wail from having her nap interrupted. The whole cacophony was topped off with an ear splitting howl; the stuffed toy had apparently come to life and revealed itself to be a small husky puppy almost entirely fox-fur red. Its little tail was wagging hard enough to make the whole of the puppy's rear end fishtail along the floor as it rushed forward to greet the new person.

"Hey, he likes you!" Finn grinned sleepily while Bonnie gaped at the puppy and Marcy tried to soothe Violet.

"Yeah, looks like he does. Any particular reason you're napping in a blanket fort in my front room with a puppy?" Bonnie asked, since she'd completely run out of headspace to process it all. Before he could answer the doorbell rang and Kim's voice yelled;

"PIZZA! I'll get it!"

"After food. I'll tell you the whole story after dinner." Finn nodded, pushing himself up. So that's how Bonnie ended up spending her Valentine's night in a blanket fort eating take away pizza with Finn, Finn's new dog and all five Madigan children. The moment the last crumb was cleared away and the youngest kids had had their faces wiped clean she fixed Finn with a steely stare and he sighed, running a hand through his hair and accidentally streaking his fringe with pizza sauce.

"Right, well, it was Marcy's idea-"

"Liar!" she interjected. "I told him to buy a stuffed toy, Bon. I swear I never told him to buy a puppy!"

"Your actual words were 'yeah get her a wolf'. You literally said those words with your mouth." he argued.

"I don't remember it so it doesn't count." Marcy shot back stubbornly.

" _Children_. I want to know why there's a puppy chewing up my rug, not whose idea it was." Bonnie interrupted.

"Hey, Flambo! Get off the rug." Finn told the dog, picking him up and putting him back on his lap. "Right, well I needed to think of a Valentine's present for Phoebe. And despite what your other half says she totally did tell me to buy her a wolf. So I made some calls, turns out no matter how many zoos I called none of them had any wolf puppies they would sell me. So I had to get creative. This little guy was the very last of a litter waiting to be adopted. Nobody wanted him cause his fur was too red, he wasn't show standard. But he's adorable, right?"

"Yeah he's very nice. Any particular reason why you're here and not at your girlfriend's place presenting him to her?" Bonnie asked sceptically. She liked dogs well enough in theory; all of Neddy's dogs were trained to perfect obedience. But puppies were messy and untrained and too enthusiastic, Bonnie was much more of a cat person.

"Turns out she's finishing some super long experiment in the lab and won't be home until forever." Finn muttered dejectedly. "I asked her if I could have five minutes of her time but she told me by the time she gets home she'll be exhausted and she'll just want to sleep. I'm worried she won't have time for Flambo."

"Hey, but now you have someone to take on your morning jog." Marcy interjected. Finn perked up a little at that.

"Huh. I guess I do."

"Anyway I called Finn to come help out cause I was exhausted and Kim had a little accident and completely destroyed a priceless hundred and six year old antique harp. So we've had quite the eventful afternoon. Jake turned up as soon as the schools let out and basically guilt tripped me into babysitting for the night so him and Lady could have some time off together." Marcy sighed.

"Your harp. Oh love, I'm so sorry." Bonnie breathed, suddenly full of sympathy for her partner. Marcy just shrugged and avoided her eyes; it was obvious she was ruthlessly repressing her heartache over the loss for her godson's sake. As if Marcy needed more things to be sad about, Bonnie thought with a quiet sigh.

"It's not something that can be helped. Teach me to leave my music room door unlocked." she shrugged.

By the time the tiny Madigans were washed changed and put to bed in the various guest bedrooms the adults were pretty much ready to drop, too. Finn said his goodbyes and carried a sleepy Flambo out to his car with the promise to let them know how Phoebe liked her surprise puppy in the morning. Marcy was already halfway up the stairs by the time Bonnie had locked the front door, shoulders slouched from dejection or fatigue or both.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Bonnie whispered as she closed their bedroom door.

"No. I just wanna grieve for it. That harp was a thing of beauty. It was made before they invented power tools, it survived two world wars. Generations of musicians have made it sing and brought beauty and joy into the world with it. And now it's destroyed forever because a little boy had a temper tantrum and pushed it over. I can't even... I love Kim, I really do. But it's hard to reconcile that with losing something so important to me. I'm gonna need some time to process it." Marcy murmured from where she was already curled onto her side in the bed.

Bonnie changed into her pyjamas and wrapped herself as snugly as possible around her girlfriend, trying to either absorb some of Marcy's hurt or else let the comfort of simply being there for her soak through her skin and maybe ease a little of her pain. She couldn't really say that she understood how a professional musician felt to lose a unique and exquisite instrument that they'd cherished for years. But Bonnie had been forced to give up things she loved far too often when she was a kid; every time her father changed military base she'd lost touch with all of her friends, all of the places she liked best to go and read, all of her secret things. Sometimes even the odd pet they'd optimistically gotten thinking that this deployment would be more permanent. And Bonnie considered that perhaps someone didn't ever really completely get over losing things. Especially when they were young and didn't understand where those precious connections had gone. She held Marcy tighter as her girlfriend started to quietly sob and wondered if it was the harp she was grieving for or her mother. Deep down Bonnie was certain it was both.


	29. Week 29

**So this is overdue, I'm so sorry! Illness again, it's that time of year. I've had such awful back ache I could barely move but I'm mostly ok again now so don't worry yourselves too much. This week's chapter is fairly Bonnie heavy but she's my favourite character so I do tend to enjoy writing her. And as anyone who's read my other longfic knows I find her most interesting when she's being emotionally tortured. So... yeah, sorry not sorry. Also Sharon Thorn is based on the mayor of the Spiky People's wife, remember her? Pretending to be the Gut Grinder, messing with Jake. Well if you know anything about basal cell carcinoma (and who doesn't?) then you know it's often caused by mutations in the hedgehog signalling pathway. Hedgehog is actually a really important gene in cancer genetics. Spiky People. Hedgehog. Get it? I know, geneticist jokes suck.**

 **Hey guys, I don't usually send a request like this but if you have the time would you consider leaving me a quick review on this chapter? Just so I know if you like it or not. I genuinely appreciate everyone who takes the time to give me a little feedback, it always makes my day and I take it all on board for the next chapter if there's anything you want to see or have questions about. Just take a second to let the author know your thoughts, I can guarantee they appreciate it.**

 **And you know what comes here, right? Yeah. The Choices We Make is beginning to heat up, it's leading into some stuff I think is gonna blow your mind holes. Go drop by IAmTheTrashPanda and read it, tell her Plesi sent you and you claim your free hug. She's an awesome person and deserves mad props for proofing this chapter and making suggestions when I was stuck.**

 **Sorry for the long notes, here's the Content Warning: emotions, anger, abuse of power.**

* * *

Saturday mornings in bed were literally Bonnie's favourite time of the week. Too bad Marcy was bouncing around excitedly and flinging clothes at her and talking a mile a minute about all the things they were going to buy that day. Bonnie mostly just tuned her out and closed her eyes again, still half lost in a bizarre dream she'd had about building giant robots. She was almost halfway asleep again when an unexpected weight dropping very close onto the bed next to her made her jump.

"Dork. Come on, up! We've got shopping today!" Marcy said loudly, grinning wide enough for both of them.

"Yay. Baby furniture shopping." Bonnie replied drowsily.

"This is part of the magic. I just wanna go look at adorable tiny people stuff and be excited about having babies with you, is that so wrong?"

Bonnie tried to reply but it just came out as a huge yawn and a stretch that was interrupted halfway through by Peppermint leaping onto her stomach and meowing hungrily.

"See? Even the cat wants you to get up."

"He wants his breakfast."

"Yeah, ok. Wait here, I'll go feed them."

Marceline bounced off the bed and was away down the stairs to the kitchen before Bonnie even had chance to reply. Instead she let her eyes slide closed again and rolled onto her front so she was stealing the residual body warmth from her girlfriend's side of the bed. Marcy always had the softest pillows, she complained if Bonnie stole them when she wasn't looking. The redhead could never work out why her own pillows always felt like they had rocks in them compared to Marcy's; it was one of the small pleasures in life to lie on those soft pillows in warm fresh sheets and give in to the weight of sleep dragging against her eyelids. It felt like just a moment later when a hand was gently stroking the hair back from her face and a voice as soft as summer rain was saying her name.

"Bonnie? Hey sleeping beauty, I made you some coffee."

"I'm awake." she replied automatically, although it took a moment for her eyes to focus and her brain to make sense of the blur of colours.

"You were fast asleep." Marcy corrected her with a smile. "Didn't you get much rest last night?"

"Dunno. Nightmares, maybe? You were rolling around a lot, guess you must have woke me a couple times." she shrugged, sitting up and accepting the mug of coffee with a contented sigh. Soft pillows and warm sheets were good but nothing beat receiving expensive coffee that she hadn't had to make herself and getting to drink it while still sitting in bed.

It was almost eleven by the time they were both dressed and out of the house but Marcy couldn't find it in herself to begrudge Bonnie a weekend lie-in. Soon enough neither of them would sleep much past five or six most mornings, not with two tiny babies demanding morning feeds and cuddles. She didn't even mind any more; if someone had told Marceline a year before that she'd be looking forward to getting woken up at five in the morning to change and feed a howling infant she probably wouldn't have believed them. But now the prospect brought a soft smile to her face. She couldn't help imagining how it would feel when they were old enough to smile and laugh, how their faces would light up when they recognised their mothers every morning. Lady had told her that one of the most beautiful moments in her entire life was when she'd stumbled still half asleep into baby Kim's bedroom and he'd already been awake and waiting for her. The huge smile that had spread across his pudgy little face when he saw his mother had made her cry happy tears right through his morning feed. Marcy was so lost in thought that she barely even noticed they'd reached their destination until Bonnie parked the car.

"So where do you wanna start?" the redhead asked as they crossed the car park to the store.

"Bedrooms. We need baby bedroom furniture." Marcy nodded decidedly.

"Can we stop by the cafe first and get a cinnamon bun?" Bonnie added in an innocently hopeful tone. Marceline rolled her eyes.

"I just don't get the obsession with them. But fine, yeah, have your weird Swedish cinnamon cake if that's what it takes to finally get you to look at furniture. Feels like you've been avoiding this, I've barely seen you in weeks."

The redhead sighed and ran a hand through her hair as they entered the store and took a small wooden pencil and order sheet from the stand by the door. It was hard to put into words, she didn't want it to come out wrong.

"It's not that I dislike shopping because you know I don't. I just... look at us. We're a pair of nesting thirty year old lesbians spending our weekend buying baby thing in Ikea. Remember when we were cool? We went to all the best parties and clubs, we were never out of bed before noon on a weekend. We had adventures and did crazy things just for fun. This is less like an adventure and more like the kind of thing that me from ten years ago had nightmares about."

"Yeah well you from ten years ago needed to grow the fuck up a bit." Marcy replied with a frown. "You can't just spend your entire life working all week to make money so you can go drinking all weekend. It gets old, sooner or later you want something more. Don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. I was at least half joking." Bonnie replied, chastised.

"Well it wasn't very funny." Marcy muttered.

She stayed quiet and a little sulky right through Bonnie's third coffee of the day and refused to even nibble the end of a cinnamon bun, claiming they would make her heartburn worse. Bonnie let her have her bad mood, knowing Marcy would cheer up as soon as they started looking at baby things. Sure enough the moment they stepped around the divide between bathrooms and children's bedrooms her eyes lit up and her annoyance with her girlfriend was completely forgotten.

"Oh, look at that one! Isn't it just gorgeous? We should get it." Marcy grinned, already running her hand across the top of a tall cot in pale wood.

"Don't you wanna look around a bit, maybe not just buy the first one you see?" Bonnie asked, amused.

"I guess. But this one is far and away my favourite."

They looked at a few different cots and of course Marcy changed her mind every time until they agreed on the first one after all. Eventually the kids would need their own beds and rooms but until they were big enough not to need feeding through the night they'd sleep in the same room as their parents and share a nursery for a while after that.

"Babe? I gotta just run to the bathroom real quick, your kids are taking it in turns to kick me in the bladder." Marcy told her as they were on their way to the next set of children's room furniture.

"Sure. I'll get started with wardrobes and stuff, catch me up." Bonnie nodded, a little distracted. She was trying to work out if the cot would fit at the end of the bed or if it would be easier just to switch sides with Marcy and put it between the window and her dressing table. Her girlfriend dropped a quick kiss on her cheek before hurrying off in the direction they'd just come, grimacing slightly with one hand rubbing her bump soothingly. Bonnie was just turning back to the shopping when a voice she'd never wanted to hear again interrupted her.

"Finally. Thought she'd never leave."

Bonnie turned with glacial slowness to find none other than Shoko leaning on a display of stuffed pandas grinning at her.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" she asked in a dangerous voice.

"Shopping. Like, you're not the only one with a life, princess. I got a new place and needed some furniture. So that's why I'm in a furniture shop. It's pretty logical if you think about it." Sho replied with an infuriating shrug.

"You got a new place and decided that you desperately needed children's bedroom furnishings? I don't even know why I'm surprised, you were always full of shit. Get lost, Sho."

"Or what? You'll go tell Less Cool Kim Deal that your evil scary ex is bothering you? And what's she gonna do, other than cry at me and go into premature labour? The only way that skinny bitch could hurt me is if her waters break and they don't put up a warning sign about the wet floor."

Shoko was smirking now, she'd always gotten a kick out of riling Bonnie. What she'd failed to take into account was that eight years working in one of the highest pressure environments within the hospital had taught the redhead a lot more self restraint than she'd ever possessed as a student and Bonnie was well used to dealing with people trying to make her angry for whatever reason. She simply slid her mobile out of her bag and held it up threateningly.

"Go away and stop following me around or I'll call the police and have you investigated for harassment. They might not find anything. Or they might. You wanna take that risk? Do you really wanna spend the next twenty four hours in police custody while they look into my allegation?" she asked with a smile completely void of humour.

"Learn to take a joke, bitch. I only stopped to say hello. As if I'd want to follow you around like a lost puppy."

Without another word Shoko turned on her heel and marched away. Only the clenched fist of her one remaining hand gave away how furious she was.

"So much for coming to find me because of everlasting love." Bonnie muttered to herself as she watched her ex disappear.

"What?"

Marcy was back and Bonnie was in no mood to upset her more than she already had that day. So instead she pulled a smile onto her face and ejected Sho forcibly from her thoughts.

"I was just thinking out loud, do you think they need a couple of tiny wardrobes or one adult sized one? It's not like they're going to be dressing themselves for a few years anyway."

Finally with the back of Marcy's huge car weighted down with a pile of heavy boxes they pulled out of the car park a couple of hours later. Like she usually was in the car Marcy was lost in thought, staring quietly out of the window at the clumps of golden daffodils they drove past on their way back into town. She took a moment to realise Bonnie was speaking to her.

"Do you know someone called Kim Deal?" the redhead asked carefully. Once the question properly sunk in Marcy turned to stare at her. Bonnie kept her eyes on the road.

"Is that supposed to be funny?"

"No? I just, I heard the name somewhere and I'm sure I've heard it before. Is it someone you know?"

"Bon, you are such a total and irredeemable dork. Kim Deal was the most awesome female bassist ever. She's like, one of the most influential female musicians in forever. You know The Pixies?"

Bonnie shook her head, cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"You know that album I used to play a lot when we first met and you banned me from playing it when you were around?" Marcy asked instead.

"The unlistenably awful one with the man shouting dirty things in Spanish?" Bonnie frowned.

"That's the one. That band is called The Pixies, they were massively influential on grunge music. Like, Nirvana practically worshiped them. Back in the eighties before grunge was even really a thing there was an absolute _visionary_ , and that was Kim Deal."

Bonnie just smiled to herself and settled back to listen to another impromptu history of music lecture. She suspected that if Marcy had heard Shoko compare her to someone who was apparently one of her teenage idols she'd probably take it as a compliment anyway, right before slapping her in her stupid face for harassing her girlfriend. It was sometimes easy to take Marceline for granted, Bonnie considered; they were just so comfortable with each other that being alone together was almost like just being alone, like Marcy was an extension of who she was. But given that her only other serious adult relationship had been with Shoko really Bonnie could stand to be reminded of how grateful she was every now and then. She didn't know what she'd done to deserve someone as wonderful as Marcy in her life but she wasn't going to take her for granted. Even if that meant a weekend trying to bolt together flat pack furniture on her own while her girlfriend 'supervised' and offered criticisms.

…

If Bonnie had been hoping that Monday would bring her any relief from the stresses of having to call Finn and Jake to come finish putting up the furniture because Marcy's lower back was mysteriously too painful to help and it was a two person job then she was sorely mistaken. The first thing that happened when she walked into her office that morning was a knock on the door before she'd even sat down. Without waiting to be invited Lydia waltzed in with an uncharacteristic frown on her heavily made up face.

"We got a voicemail this morning, King's bailed for the day. Probably tomorrow too. Like, apparently he's got 'gastrointestinal issues' which I guess means it's pouring out of both ends?"

"Lovely." Bonnie grimaced, trying hard to repress that mental image. "Guess that means I'm picking up his rounds today?"

"Admin didn't mention a locum so I guess so. My bet is he's probably just hungover." Lydia shrugged. "I'm doing a coffee run, you look like you could use an espresso."

"Double, please." Bonnie replied gratefully. The curvy woman nodded and let herself out of Bonnie's office, leaving the redhead to sigh over her paperwork and try to access Dr King's patient notes on the shared departmental servers.

It was mid-morning and she'd finally finished writing up her own rounds as well as Dr King's, her neglected coffee had gone cold but she threw it back hurriedly anyway just before an unexpected knock at her door interrupted her.

"Excuse me, the lady on reception said I should talk to you instead of Dr King today?"

It was a sharp featured middle aged woman peering anxiously at Bonnie from the doorway. She'd been about to go check if some important results were back from the labs yet and catch up on her work emails but instead she plastered her best dealing with relatives of patients smile on her face and gestured to the empty chair in front of her desk.

"Of course, please take a seat. I'm Dr Sugar, I'm afraid Dr King is unexpectedly ill today. How can I help?"

"Um, I'm Sharon Thorn, my son is on the ward? He's got skin cancer. Well I know what Dr King said about the pharmaceutical company not wanting to involve too many people with their research and that I wasn't supposed to discuss the details of CJ's treatment with anyone but him. But the lady on reception said you were his boss? So I guess you know all about the drug trial." the woman continued, biting her lip nervously.

"I... remind me, please. I've got a lot of patients under my care and I'm not completely certain what treatment you're referring to." Bonnie replied carefully. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach; so far as she was aware the department weren't involved in any drug trials and King wasn't overseeing any extra treatments. Unless he was doing so without her knowledge, and that was a very worrying prospect.

"CJ, my son. Cameron Junior Thorn." the woman replied hurriedly. Bonnie typed the name into the patient database and looked over the notes on the boy's file. Cameron Thorn, nine years old, diagnosed with a rare genetic basal cell carcinoma that was currently in remission following surgery to remove the tumour and a couple of sessions of radiotherapy to catch any cancerous cells that they'd missed. He was only on the ward due to complicating factors surrounding his absent spleen and lowered immune system, from what Bonnie could tell at a cursory glance everything looked fairly routine in his treatment and there was no indication that he was on any medication other than what she'd have expected.

"From the notes here CJ looks to be doing fine, he's still recovering from surgery but I can't see any reason for undue concern." she told the woman.

"But it's about the payments, Dr Sugar. Dr King said we'd need to pay monthly for his medication and Lord knows his Dad, my Cameron, he's been working as hard as he can but they just won't give him any more overtime. They said it was health and safely and he couldn't work more than nine shifts in a row. We're already struggling what with me having to pay for a hotel close to the hospital and I was wondering if there'd be any flexibility on this month's payment. I don't want him to come off the medicine, Dr King said it was the only thing that would keep him healthy."

With every word out of the woman's mouth Bonnie could feel her horror and fury growing. There was no drug trial, no private payments that the hospital had authorised. And there never would be, that wasn't how the National Health Service worked. All treatment was free at the point of use; that was the nature of universal health care. Even if CJ was involved in a drug trial his treatment would be free as part of the trial. There was only explanation Bonnie could think of for a patient's parent to be making a monthly payment directly to an individual doctor and it chilled her to the bone with disgust and horror. King had been deliberately scamming the parents of sick children and stealing God only knew how much money from them, asking for payments for bogus private treatment.

"Excuse me, Ms Thorn, how long has CJ been on the medical trial?" Bonnie asked as calmly as possible around the rising tide of boiling rage in her chest.

"Four months. Dr King said he was getting better." the woman replied earnestly. "Is he still sick?"

"I... no, Ms Thorn. CJ is doing fine and so long as he stays on his medication he doesn't need any drug trials. He's doing perfectly well with the medicine from the hospital, you don't need to make any more payments. I can guarantee you that whatever trial he was part of just ended, you don't need any extra medicine. I will need you to talk to someone from the hospital financial auditing team about the trial though, since Dr King didn't fill me in on all the details. We need to know how much you paid him and what bank account it went into."

The woman thanked her profusely and left for the ward to tell her son the good news and presumably call his father and tell him to stop working himself to death. Once the door closed behind her Bonnie could hear a kind of ringing in her ears overlaid across the hush of the office, like angry bees were filling her brain. Of all the things King had ever done wrong this was unthinkably low. To steal a large amount of money from the parents of sick children... she had to know how far back it went, how many people he'd done this to. With shaking hands she picked up her phone and dialed the hotline to reception.

"Lyds, can you go into archiving and pull up all of King's discharged patients for as long as he's been here please? I know you're on your lunch soon and it's a big job but I think we might be dealing with a situation here. And if you could call someone from financial audit and ask them to come to my office as soon as possible." she sighed tiredly. Bonnie's day was about to get exponentially worse.

…

"Dr Julian King, I am arresting you on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement. You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."

He was gaping around the room at them all, all his colleagues and the grim faced police woman who had approached him the moment he walked into the staff lounge on Wednesday morning still half hungover from the weekend's bender. His eyes fell on Bonnie, staring stone faced at him from the corner and gripping her coffee mug so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Every line of her body radiated disgust; King thought he'd seen her angry plenty of times before but apparently that had been nothing compared to the sheer depth of fury radiating from her.

" _You_. You fucking _bitch_ , you sold me out?" he snarled, lunging forwards in a sudden rage. That bitch had done nothing but fuck his career up, deny him the job that should have been his and the pay and opportunities that went with it. He was going to make her sorry she'd ever been born. But before he'd even gone three steps towards her the burly police woman was wrestling him to the ground and snapping a pair of handcuffs around his wrists. He struggled against her, growling wordlessly, but to his shame and horror she was stronger than him and pinned him easily.

"This isn't going to look at all good on your arrest sheet, Julian. Come on, don't make a scene." she told him regretfully. Sugar was still staring silently at him with disgust and contempt etched into every line of her freckled face.

"You sack of shit." he heard her mutter before he was hauled to his feet again and marched out of the door, out of the building and into a waiting police car. King was completely certain whose fault it all was and it wasn't his. Sugar had better watch her back, he thought furiously as they drove him away. She was going to pay for humiliating him.

"You ok?" Lydia asked quietly as they watched the police car disappear around the corner of the building from the staff lounge. Bonnie nodded a little distantly, still staring out of the window.

"Twenty three." she murmured. "He pulled that scam on twenty three families under my care, probably more at his last hospital. Eleven of those kids died, Lyds. What if his scam contributed to their deaths? Why didn't I find out about this sooner?"

"Come on, you couldn't have known. Nobody could. He hid it from everyone, picked his victims carefully. You heard what auditing said. Nobody blames you." Lydia soothed.

"I blame me." Bonnie replied softly. Next second she turned away and strode out of the lounge, heading back to the ward with her face resolutely blank and free of any traitorous emotion.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Bonnie tried not to dwell on it and to all appearances she was her usual professional, efficient self. She caught Lydia peering at her worriedly a few times as she passed by but just kept her gaze straight ahead and didn't let the curvy woman catch her eye. All the time beneath her thoughts an undercurrent of churning guilt ran thick and deep. King had been screwing with her department, he'd been abusing his position right under her nose. And no matter what anyone else said she should have seen it. What else had King been doing and gotten away with? Could she trust any of the decisions he'd made at all? What about the rest of her colleagues? How many of them were involved in something that went against their oaths as doctors? Suddenly Bonnie didn't know if she could look any of them in the eye, unsure she would see their judgement over her not discovering King sooner or else their guilt over their own illicit behaviour. It wasn't like Bonnie had liked King at all, not from the very first time she laid eyes on him. But he was a doctor, he was entrusted with the care of sick children and their families. Never had she thought he could abuse that trust for his own gain no matter how much she'd personally disliked him.

The drive home was tense; Bonnie wasn't completely certain how she made it out of the hospital car park and onto the road skirting the park. She came back from her half space out just in time to slam on the brakes and narrowly avoid running into the back of the car in front when the traffic lights changed unexpectedly and she hadn't immediately noticed. Her attention had been on King again and the murderous hate in his eyes when he'd look at her that morning; she'd almost rear ended the car in front because of it. And really that was the straw that broke the camel's back. It was a good thing she was only a few blocks away from home, Bonnie thought as the tears she'd held under iron control all day began to fountain down her face. By the time she pulled onto the drive her eyes were a swollen, blackened ruin of messed up mascara. Marcy was waiting by the front door and the moment she saw Bonnie she hurried forwards, helping her out of the car and dabbing worriedly at her face with the corner of a tissue. It wasn't right, the redhead thought distantly. She should be the one staying strong her partner; Marceline was still recovering from the loss of her harp and that letter from her mother. But there she was being as comforting and gentle as she'd ever been, nothing but tender and supporting. Bonnie wasn't sure she'd ever have words to thank Marcy for that. She'd managed to keep her professional mask in place all day but she'd been vaguely aware that it had come at the price of being an emotional wreck the moment she got home. All at once the redhead had completely run out of cope.

"They arrested him first thing this morning." Bonnie told her quietly as Marcy gently pushed her down into the sofa and wrapped her in a hug. "Auditing spoke to the families of all of his patients. Twenty three of them, they think. He deliberately picked the most vulnerable. Single parents without any support or kids he knew wouldn't make it, families already under financial strain who wouldn't ask too many questions. Apparently he'd managed to find out that the Thorns already had debts. He was targeting the most vulnerable for his own gain."

"That bastard." Marcy murmured, holding Bonnie tightly and stroking her hair as soothingly as possible. "That utter, utter bastard. I hope he rots in jail."

"I do too. I tried to just go on like nothing had happened today but I couldn't stop thinking about it. How could he come to work every day and act like nothing had happened when he knew he was ruining people's lives? Some of those families took out huge loans, got themselves into debt to pay him. And they thought they were helping their children, they put their kids' lives in his hands. He exploited a parent's love for their child, made them think they were receiving life saving treatments just so he could steal from them. It makes me sick to my stomach."

Marcy felt her babies kick and felt Bonnie shiver in her arms with the tears of anger she'd held in all day and silently agreed. It made her sick too. If she'd been there instead of Bonnie that morning the police would have been taking her away instead of King and charging her with attempted murder.

"But there are good doctors in the world too. People like you." Marcy murmured.

"It doesn't make up for people like him though."

"I disagree. I think you're brilliant."

The night ended as well as Bonnie could have hoped. Marcy knew without having to be told that her girlfriend needed the comfort of intimacy and she was more than willing to help the redhead forget herself, even just for a few moments. Once the rush of climax had passed and her heartbeat had slowed back to a normal rhythm it was almost like Bonnie could sleep, almost like she could pretend the day hadn't shaken her to her core. Marcy fell asleep almost instantly beside her and she snuggled down against her warm back, needing the closeness of the contact more than ever. Despite the comfort and the knowledge that she'd done everything she could Bonnie still saw the families of deceased patients staring at her accusingly in her dreams that night.


	30. Week 30

**Hej från Sverige! The reason this chapter is so delayed is because I'm currently sitting in a little wooden house in the woods about an hour north of Gothenburg. If there's anywhere more beautiful than Sweden in the autumn I've yet to see it, this place is just... blissful. We'll be home again next week and I'll be back to my usual writing schedule. Yet again this is a fairly Bonnie heavy chapter, I figured she'd need her own little chunk of plot for a bit. Since we've had a lot of Marcy (obviously) and I didn't want her to just sorta fade into the background. So, have some more poor, stressed out Bonnibel.**

 **Like usual I'm about to badger you to go read The Choices We Make. Do it. And don't forget to review! Panda puts a lot of work into her writing and it wouldn't take much for you to drop her a few words just to let her know your thoughts. Actually that goes for pretty much every author I know, if they take the time to write for you then it's polite to give feedback wherever possible. Every fanfic author I ever spoke to appreciates the reviews, it's a good bellwether of how their story's doing. So, you know, consider yourself nagged? Idk, sorry.**

 **Content Warning: derogatory words, swearing, emotional outbursts, vandalism, creepiness.**

* * *

"Happy birthday, Daddy." Marcy said as she handed across a box wrapped in shiny paper. She counted in her head, wondering how long he'd wait before the inevitable joke-

"Oh, I bet it's a CD!" Hunson beamed, taking the very obvious bottle of whiskey and giving it an experimental shake to make the liquid inside slosh around. Marceline rolled her eyes. He'd made the same joke every year since she'd been old enough to buy him alcohol for his birthday.

"Here comes the cake!" TT announced happily from the kitchen doorway. Bonnie dutifully flicked the lights off so Hunson's dining room was illuminated only by the birthday candles on the top of what even Marcy grudgingly accepted was a show-stopping cake from TT's bakery.

"Sweetheart, you didn't have to." Hunson smiled to her. TT winked back at him; Marcy was glad it was so dark that her father probably didn't notice the disgusted expression on her face. He was in his sixties, he had no business being winked at by his gross old girlfriend.

After a perfunctory chorus of 'Happy Birthday to You' and the candles being blown out the lights came back on and at least they got to eat some cake. Bonnie and Marcy exchanged a grossed out glance when TT cooed; "Make a wish, birthday boy!" but neither chose to comment on it. Even if it was unbelievably weird. Marcy didn't ever think she'd seen her father blush before, not once in her life. But his cheeks were flaming red and he shot Theresa a sly smile that he probably thought escaped his daughter's notice. It didn't and she was suitably horrified. They ate their birthday cake in awkward silence, Marceline avoiding her girlfriend's eyes and focussing on the regretfully delicious cake.

"I'll get the plates!" Marcy all but shouted the moment the last bite of disappeared into her father's mouth. She was away into the next room with the stacked plates before he could argue that she was very heavily pregnant and her stomach looked more like she was about to give birth to an elephant than two regular sized human babies and that she shouldn't strain herself. Anything to get out of that awkward situation. Of course TT was her usual clueless self and bimbled in after a minute with the left over cake.

"Just me." the older woman announced, as though Marcy had been expecting anyone else. "Do you know, I've not made spiced honey cake in years, there's just no call for it in the bakery. My Peter used to love it though, it was his favourite. I remember one year just after we'd gotten his diagnosis, he must have been about five, he started eating it right out of the tray before I'd gotten the glaze on."

Marceline paused and turned to look at TT although the other woman's back was turned as she put the cake in the fridge.

"I'm surprised he couldn't make it tonight." Marcy murmured, at a loss for what else to say. She was busy putting the clean plates away and missed the way the older woman's hands stilled and shoulders tensed.

"I'd have loved for him to be here tonight." Theresa replied quietly. "My Peter-"

"Sweetie, we're gonna need to head home soon, you're in early tomorrow." Bonnie's voice floated through from the other room, cutting off whatever TT had been about to say.

"Well this was lovely, we should do it again sometime." Marcy said insincerely over her shoulder as she made a hasty exit from the kitchen. Bonnie's timing was excellent like always.

"They are gross. Like, too gross to be allowed." Marcy complained as Bonnie drove them both home.

"I'm sure our kids will say the same about us one day." the redhead replied distractedly.

"Yeah but we're not gonna wink at each other and do that whole lustful eye-blazing thing at each other over family meals. It should be outlawed for the over-fifties."

"You're just finding it hard to process because he's your Dad. If it was any other older couple you'd think it was cute."

"Well how would you like it if you had to sit between your father and some random old hippie undressing each other with their eyes?"

Bonnie laughed, risking a quick glance over at Marcy sulking in the passenger seat as they passed through the orange halo of a streetlight.

"Have you met my father? I'm fairly sure he's not undressed in front of my mother at least since the night Neddy was conceived. They probably do it through a sheet with a hole in it like the Puritans used to. If you look up 'straight laced' in the dictionary there'd be a picture of my Dad next to it." she grinned.

"Guess your brother must have gotten your share of that part of the genetics then. I'm willing to bet just how often we get freaky would horrify him, he'd probably have to look up half the things we actually do online. I used to love that we had uptight, prudish fathers in common. I'd have preferred it to stay that way forever." Marcy sulked.

"You sound like a jealous pre-teen who's scared her father will stop loving her if he starts dating." Bonnie replied with a knowing smile. "You know you're always gonna be your Daddy's little monster, right?"

"Shut up." Marcy growled, turning away and glaring out of the window. Bonnie's smile grew ever so slightly wider; it was pretty obvious she'd hit the root of Marceline's attitude about Hunson's new girlfriend. But she held her peace until she was home; as amusing as grumpy Marcy could be she knew when to stop poking the bear.

They were just chilling for a while before bed; Marcy was muttering to herself over some last minute notes for Keila taking over her lectures and Bonnie was distractedly flicking through TV channels and wondering if Lydia had managed to round everybody up for the surprise babyshower tomorrow. The redhead picked up her phone from the coffee table and was scrolling through her work emails remotely when she narrowed her eyes in confusion. In amongst the usual announcements, minor policy memos and interdepartmental chatter was an email from _Unknown; (subject): no subject._ It was was just a single line of text but it stood out from the screen like it had been yelled at her.

 _WATCH YOUR BACK YOU STUCK UP WHORE_

There was no signature but Bonnie didn't need one. There was exactly one person she knew who was childish enough and vindictive enough to send her anonymous hate mail like that. If she ran into Shoko one more time she'd follow through on her threat to have the other woman investigated for harassment. She slammed her phone back on the coffee table a little too hard, drawing Marcy's gaze.

"Everything ok, babe?" she asked in concern.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna go up to bed." Bonnie replied. She made a split-second decision not to mention the stupid email, it wasn't important. Marcy didn't need the stress. Not when she was a day away from starting maternity leave and her surprise party.

"Oh. Ok, well I've still got some stuff to finish so I'll be up in a bit." Marcy replied. She watched in slight confusion as Bonnie slouched into the hall and up the stairs. Probably the redhead regretted her decision to put off going part time at work until much closer to their due date, she figured. With a sigh she turned back to her notes; Bonnie would be tense until the hospital confirmed King's trial date, she knew. She just hoped that happened before their babies arrived.

…

The surprise party was wonderful, Marcy thought as she grinned around yet another bag of presents. All her colleagues and students had surprised her at the end of the afternoon with snacks, balloons and an absolutely huge bouquet of flowers as well as a card everyone had signed. For someone who was new to the music department and socialzed more with her postgrads than the other lecturers Marcy hadn't realised she was so popular. She finally loaded all her gifts into the back of her car and set off for home, much later than she'd been planning. It wouldn't matter though, Bonnie wouldn't be home yet anyway. Except when she pulled up on their drive her girlfriend's shiny cherry-red Jaguar was parked in pride of place in the middle of the drive like always. Marceline frowned as she shouldered the front door open and struggled up the hall with the flowers and numerous gift bags. She'd get her cello out of the car later, no way was she trying to carry all that stuff in just one trip.

"Bon? Are you home already?" she called as she half-filled a vase and rooted around for some scissors to take the cellophane off the bouquet with.

"I'm in the lounge." the redhead replied, voice a little muffled by distance. "I've got something to show you, get in here."

"Give me a minute, babe. The guys at work had a surprise maternity party for me this afternoon or I'd have been home hours ago. I'm just fixing the flowers they gave me. Even Bongo and Guy were there and they're leaving for the States in like, two days." she called back. The flowers were a mix of soft pink tulips, blue irises and clusters of delicate cream daffodils and she figured they'd look nice on the mantel above their fireplace. She nearly dropped the vase in fright when she walked into the lounge and was greeted with her second shout of "SURPRISE!" that day. The room was full of all of their friends, more pink and blue balloons and another pile of gifts on the coffee table. Bonnie was grinning at her from the sofa and Lydia was smiling smugly. No way Bonnie had time to plan something like that, Marceline was completely certain she'd have delegated that to her secretary.

"You guys." she smiled, a little overcome by having two baby showers in one day. "You're the best. You utter bastards."

"We thought you'd like to get made a fuss of." Jake replied from the corner, standing up to hug his best friend. "I know how much you love being the centre of attention."

"Who's watching the restaurant?" she asked as he wrapped her in a bear hug.

"Big Mo and B-Mo are having some father-son bonding over the evening rush. As if I'd miss this." he grinned back.

It was another rather lovely party, Marcy even found time to thank Lydia for arranging it.

"Hey, Lyds. This is really sweet of you, I appreciate it."

The curvy woman just shrugged modestly and flicked her hair in feigned innocence.

"Are we doing that thing where we pretend your girlfriend totally didn't ask me to set this up for you? Cause we both know she'd never be able to pull this off on her own, she barely has time to eat her own lunch."

Marcy sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Bonnie was picking up half of King's rotation again until a replacement could be interviewed. It was the last thing she needed on top of having auditing going through the accounts and patient notes of every single child who'd had any contact with the ward over the last five years. Pushing to make Lydia a permanent member of the team had been one of Bonnie's better ideas, it was obvious that as well as being professionally invaluable Lyds was a good friend to the redhead.

"I know. And I know how much stress the whole department is under right now, I can't tell you how glad I am that Bon has someone watching her back at work." Marcy replied.

"She's been so quiet and withdrawn. Used to be you could have a laugh with her, but Dr Sugar's just too busy these days. Like, ever since that regular of hers died. Maybe even before. You're looking after her, right?" Lyds asked quietly.

"Yeah. As best as she'll let me. I appreciate that you're looking out for her too."

"It was a choice between Sugar or King, how masochistic do you think I am?"

"Well Finn's one of my best friends and he said-"

"Don't even. That was a one off."

There were presents and more cake and hugs from pretty much everyone the two of them had ever met. But Marcy was already exhausted from one baby shower and it wasn't long before she was yawning into her hand and throwing glances at the clock. She wasn't too subtle for her closest friends at least.

"Well this has been awesome." Lady told them with a soft smile, "But we better get home before Charlie does something unforgivable. She's just turned into such a little monster since she started the bigger school, I'm surprised Joshua agreed to watch her tonight when he's still getting over his shingles."

"They grow up way too fast. Enjoy the small time you have where mostly all they do is sleep. Pretty soon your two will be up and crawling and then you'll stop being able to have nice things." Jake added wisely.

"Thanks for dropping by, guys. Give the kids a kiss from us." Marcy told them as they made their way out of the lounge. Without any warning a car alarm started blaring outside and everyone winced.

"Hey, that sounds pretty close." Finn said loudly over the din. He went to the window and peered out into the darkness, frowning at the noise and flashing lights.

"What is it?" Bonnie asked with a frown, coming to join him. "Oh... someone's gonna fucking _die_ -"

"Bon? What's wrong?" Marcy asked. But it was to late, her partner had already rushed out of the house onto the drive with her car keys. A moment later the noise cut off and Finn had slid his mobile out of his pocket.

"Police, please. Yeah, hello, I'm PC Finn Madigan, I'm off duty at a friend's place tonight and I need a patrol car to come handle a vandalism attack."

Marcy didn't stop to hear the rest of what Finn was telling his police colleagues. She heaved herself to her feet and hurried as fast as her bump would allow out onto the drive. Bonnie had stopped just out of the doorway, rigid with shock and face paler than Marcy had seen her in years. Her expensive sports car was exactly where she'd left it on the drive. All four tires had been slashed and the wing mirrors snapped off, that's what must have set off the alarm.

"Look at the front." Bonnie mumbled, still too shocked to move.

Marcy turned to look and caught her breath. She felt a little like she was falling from the shock. Scratched savagely, deeply, right across the front of the car was the single word;

 _SLUT_

…

"Do you have any idea who might have targeted you?"

"I... perhaps. There've been several families who felt that the hospital and department were at fault in the death of their children over the years. I'm the head of paediatric oncology, usually when a child isn't going to make it I have to deliver the news and they lash out at whoever they feel is responsible. We had to fire an employee recently too, he's under investigation for fraud. And, um-" Bonnie faltered, glancing at Marcy who squeezed her hand supportively.

"Anything at all you can tell us would be useful." the friendly police woman added. Bonnie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Well I ran into my ex again the other week. And she wasn't terribly shy about the fact she's been following me. This wouldn't be the first time she's done something illegal. And she told me when she first arrived back in the UK that she's basically been obsessed with me for the last ten years. This seems very much like her style."

"What the hell, Bon? Why didn't you tell me?" Marcy started, but she caught a look from the police officer and shut her mouth. The expression on her face told Bonnie she wasn't finished by a long shot though.

"We're gonna need names and addresses, if you have them." the police officer told her. "And if we could get a statement from your party guests too it'd help. Does the property have any security cameras?"

"No, we never thought to put any up. Maybe some of the neighbours do." Marcy replied.

"We'll go door to door tomorrow and see if anyone saw anything. I think we're done for now though. We'll be in touch, Dr Sugar. In the meantime if you need us please don't hesitate to call."

She stood, nodded to Finn and let herself out. Bonnie put her head in her hands and let her shoulders slump. Until the emergency recovery vehicle from the garage came to tow her car away she needed to hold it together, just a little.

"Are you two gonna be ok tonight?" Finn asked, coming across the room and crouching down so he could take Bonnie's hand.

"Yeah. We'll be fine. I can't promise that I won't sleep with a kitchen knife under the bed though." the redhead replied shakily.

"I'm working again tomorrow morning so I'll keep you up to date on the case. But Fionna's a pro, you're lucky she was on duty tonight. We'll get whoever did this."

"It was Shoko." Bonnie said with absolute certainty.

"What makes you say that?" Marcy frowned.

"Look, she basically told me she was creepily obsessed with me and stalking me. I didn't want to tell you because you were already stressing about your harp and stuff but the day we were buying the baby things in Ikea she was there, following me. The moment you went to the bathroom she came over and started being a creep. This isn't King's style, he'd have to be stupid to do something so obvious when he was already under investigation for fraud."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me. Bon, you're supposed to trust me." Marcy replied in a hurt voice.

"I do trust you. I just, you had enough to deal with and it didn't seem important. I got a nasty email too, I just wrote it off as some stupid prank. But she's obviously escalating the harassment." Bonnie sighed. "Finn, go on home. It's fine."

He was reluctant but finally left, promising to call as soon as they made any headway the next day. The moment the front door closed behind him Marceline rounded on Bonnie, eyes flashing angrily.

"Love, please-"

"You should have told me the instant she threatened you!"

"I didn't want to worry you-"

"I want to be worried about you! I want to know what's going on in your life and if some crazy stalker is following you around and escalating their intimidating behaviour towards you! Don't you think I need to know if someone's targeting our bloody home?" Marcy yelled furiously.

"Look, it was a mistake! Ok? I didn't mean to lie to you about it but it didn't seem like a big deal at the time and I didn't take her seriously! I always knew Sho was a bit unhinged but this is just one step beyond. I'm already about five seconds away from a full emotional breakdown so if you could just quit yelling at me that's be fucking great!"

It turned out to be less than five seconds. Bonnie was crying before Marcy even had chance to open her mouth to reply and really when faced with a distressed redhead it was s hard for her to hold on to her anger. So instead Marceline just sat down next to her and slid her arms around the other woman's slender frame, pulling her into a close hug.

"The police will arrest her and sort this out, yeah? And we'll get the car fixed." she soothed.

"I'm sorry." Bonnie hiccuped.

"I know. It's ok. Come on, babe. As soon as they take the car away let's go get that kitchen knife and go to bed."

It took a long time before either of them fell asleep and Marcy at least was up half the night, eyes flying open in panic at even tiny noise from outside. If the red rings around Bonnie's eyes next morning were any indication she hadn't slept well either. Marcy watched her disappear out of the front door on her way to work with a pensive frown creasing her forehead and even quieter than she usually was first thing in the morning. Bonnie had even skipped her yoga routine, she'd simply chugged a couple of mugs of coffee, borrowed Marcy's car keys and left with a brief goodbye. It wasn't at all how Marceline had been planning to spend the first day of her maternity leave.

…

As usual lunch was ten minutes to grab a few bites of sandwich and half scald her mouth on coffee she had no time to allow to cool while reviewing patient notes. Bonnie's eyes were still scanning the open file in her hand even as she was hurrying back onto the ward to start the afternoon's rounds. The presence of someone she hadn't been expecting barely registered as she made her way to the first bed, it was only when a voice she knew addressed her that she stopped and looked around.

"Bonnie?"

"Finn! Oh, hey, this is a surprise. Did you make any headway with my car? Did you interview Shoko yet?" she asked. But the tall man shook his head, face grim.

"I need to talk to you about some other stuff. I'm sorry, I thought you'd rather it was me than anyone else. Dr King has made some allegations about you being involved in the fraud he was running and I'm gonna need you to come with me to the station and answer a couple of questions. Come on, Bon. Just to rule it out. I know it's crap but we've gotta run through the motions." he told her regretfully.

Bonnie felt as though a leaden weight had dropped into her stomach. She stood with her mouth half open in shock, staring at her old friend and not quite able to take in what he was telling her. King had told them she'd been involved in his fraud? Her mouth was dry, mind reeling and struggling to even understand what was happening. Every pair of eyes on the ward were staring curiously up at her, all the kids had stopped whatever they were doing to watch the tall police man and their favourite doctor. Bonnie swallowed compulsively a couple of times before she could find the words to reply.

"But you know I had nothing to do with it. I was the one who reported him. I'm in the middle of work, I can't go anywhere." Bonnie finally managed to say.

"Come on, Bon. You can come with me now and we can run through a couple of questions and then you can go home and officially not be a suspect or we can do this the hard way. I'm in a bind here, I can't just put in the official investigation that you're a good person and definitely weren't involved in defrauding the families of vulnerable kids. Bonnie, I'm just doing my job. I just want you to be cleared of this, for your own sake. Please don't make me arrest you." Finn begged.

Her mind worked furiously but there was no other options than to go with him, leave the ward to the care of the juniors and nurses for the afternoon. Bonnie hung her head, betrayed and humiliated.

"Fine. Don't expect me to forgive you for this though." she said angrily, unable to look him in the eye.

"I'm just doing my job. I know you had nothing to do with it and I know you're mad at me. But we've both got things we gotta do and I need to rule you out of this investigation." Finn replied quietly. He placed a hand on her shoulder to guide her to the door but she shrugged it off furiously.

"Lyds, please cancel my appointments for the afternoon. I'm going to have to answer some questions about King." Bonnie called to her secretary as she marched past the front desk. Lydia gaped at her but didn't have time to ask any questions before Bonnie had disappeared out of the main doors with Finn hot on her heels.

At the police station she sat and glowered at the glass of water Finn placed on the table between them as a peace offering. The heavyset detective that accompanied him asked her a series of questions over and over with a monotonous voice and a blank poker face. Eventually, after two hours of going over the same ground and Bonnie repeatedly denying any knowledge of King's fraudulent activities he nodded and told her she was free to go. Without another word Bonnie stood and swept from the room, still too furious to look in Finn's direction. She'd been planning to walk right out of the station without delay and find a taxi to get back to the hospital but yet again an unexpected voice addressed her the moment she was outside.

"You fucking _bitch_. The fuck do you even want from me? Now I can't stop and say hello without you calling the fucking police on me? And what are you even doing here, you came to gloat? Save it, they didn't charge me with anything. I don't even know where you live and I'm not petty enough to vandalise your stupid car. Just, keep the fuck away from me. I wish I'd never met you, you're a fucking sociopath."

Shoko was scowling at her from the bottom of the steps where she'd been leaning smoking a cigarette and apparently waiting for her ride. Bonnie stared, confused. So they'd arrested Shoko and let her go without charge after the shit she'd pulled with Bonnie's car? Just typical, the redhead was losing what little faith she'd had left in the local police department.

"Believe it or not, Sho, my whole world doesn't revolve around you. But if you come anywhere near my home or my partner or our family ever again I'll do more than just have you arrested." Bonnie snarled, temper flaring far beyond her usual calm control.

"Is that a threat?" Shoko hissed with narrowed eyes.

"It's a promise. Don't test me because I am so done with your bullshit." Bonnie replied coldly. She turned on her heel and shoved past the other woman, away up the street. She'd walk back to the hospital, see if the exercise would take the edge off her boiling rage. It was hard to be certain who she was most angry with, King or Finn or Shoko or just the whole damn world.


	31. Week 31

**So I took a break. I'm sorry. I just wasn't in the right headspace to write so I'm sorry this chapter is delayed. But, it's here now and I feel better about writing and I promise I'll try to keep it updated regularly. I just wanted this to be up to standard and I'm sure you'd rather wait for something good than read something rushed and not as good as you want it to be, right?**

 **As ever huge love and hugs to the magnificent IAmTheTrashPanda who may or may not be responsible for me getting sucked into the remastered Skyrim world and sacrificing hours of my life to eating the souls of dragons. Go! Read her stuff! She's awesome and I did a little cameo writing on the last chapter of The Choices We Make, I highly recommend you check it out.**

 **Content Warning: exposition, feels, foreshadowing.**

* * *

The slam of the front door announced Bonnie was home and in just as bad a mood as she had been all week. Before Marceline even had chance to heave herself off the sofa her partner was already yelling at her.

"What the bloody hell is all this crap doing in the hall? I thought we were waiting to paint the nursery together so you didn't strain yourself? Jesus, Marcy, if you've done anything stupid-"

"Chill out, would you? Just come upstairs and see, you're gonna like it." Marcy replied from the doorway with an eye roll. One of the babies kicked her hard right in the ribs and she went a little cross eyed; next second Bonnie's anger had been replaced by concern and she was gently touching the bump.

"Just a strong kick, nothing to freak out about." Marcy gasped around the pain.

"Looks like it hurts though." the redhead replied sympathetically. "You're too far along to be worrying about painting the nursery, what were you thinking? You shouldn't be getting up on ladders and breathing in paint fumes and stuff."

"Come on. It's a surprise." Marcy replied. She followed Bonnie up the stairs as fast as her growing bump would let her, which wasn't terribly fast these days. Despite the slowness she was still a little out of breath by the time she got to the top.

The nursery room they'd picked was right next door to their own bedroom, a large and bright room with a view over the back garden and plenty of natural light coming through the wide windows. When they'd bought the house it had been hard to choose which room would be the master bedroom since they were both about the same size, but in the end Bonnie's ever growing shoe collection had needed the bedroom with the built in wardrobes. As much as she loved their house Marceline still sometimes missed the cozy apartment she'd shared with Jake and then later with Bonnie. After her turbulent childhood it had been nice to have a place that she knew was always completely hers, somewhere she felt safe and secure. Since the vandalism incident the week previously somehow the house didn't quite feel as perfectly safe as it had before, Marcy found herself checking the doors several times before going to bed and jumping at the thump of the morning mail on the mat. But she was determined, it was the house they'd picked after months of searching because it was a perfect family home. Marcy wasn't about to let some creep ruin that; the police would catch whoever it was soon and things could go back to normal. For tonight she just hoped her surprise for her partner worked out as well as she hoped it would. Marceline had the pleasure of seeing Bonnie's jaw drop when she walked through the nursery door.

The walls had been transformed from dull beige to a light turquoise colour with lemon-yellow butterflies stencilled around the ceiling and skirting boards. The wooden floor was softened with a fluffy yellow and cream striped rug and their recently acquired baby furniture had all been moved into position, ready for use the moment the babies were sleeping through the night. There was even a small wall hammock filled with stuffed toys next to the high sided wooden cot Marcy had picked out.

"Love, it's beautiful." Bonnie breathed, amazed. "How did you manage to do all this in just one day?"

"Well I had a _little_ help. But most of the important stuff was all me." Marcy replied a touch smugly.

"Who-" Bonnie started, but she was cut off by a sheepish cough from behind them. Instantly her face darkened with furious recognition.

"He wanted to say sorry!" Marcy hurriedly explained.

"Get out of my house, Finn. I told you, we're done." the redhead snarled as she whirled on Finn. He'd been standing quietly behind the door, she hadn't seen him because she'd been too busy admiring the room and his paint covered overalls camouflaged him against the wall.

"Please just hear me out, Bon. We've been friends for years. I never once thought you had anything to do with the fraud, I was doing my job. You understand that, right? We had to go through the motions or else King's lawyers would have torn you apart in court and he'd have gotten away with it. I know it doesn't feel like it but I was protecting you." Finn pleaded. He was holding his hands up a little defensively to forestall her from interrupting and despite still being absolutely furious with him Bonnie couldn't escape the logic of what he was saying.

"You didn't have to come arrest me at work!" she finally sputtered, still determined to be angry about something.

"Yeah, I did. I needed everyone to see that the police were following procedure to the letter. And I didn't arrest you, Bon. I politely asked you to come answer some routine questions, in the open where everyone could see I was treating you as a witness and not a suspect. If anything you're the least suspicious doctor at that hospital. And I brought you Thai food from that takeout that you like for dinner." he finished with a small, hopeful smile. Bonnie tried to hold on to her anger but after a long minute of unsustainable anger she relented with a long huff.

"You better have brought tofu pad-thai." she finally muttered. Finn beamed and held out his arms, she didn't resist when he wrapped her into a hug.

"Sometimes you're an asshole." Finn told her affectionately.

"Yeah? Well sometimes you deserve it. But not this time. I'm sorry, man. I just... yeah, stress and junk." Bonnie sighed against his shoulder.

"If you two keep hugging much longer I'm gonna go eat all of your food." Marcy warned from the doorway. "Come on, don't make me eat Finn's gross garlic food and have an allergic reaction and have to be shot with my EpiPen again. I dunno if I can even use that when I've got passengers on board."

"It'd save your life but it could endanger the babies. Do try not to go into anaphylaxis if you can help it." Bonnie replied as they followed her out of the room and back down the stairs.

"As if I ever plan on it. Babe, I've been paranoid about everything I eat since I was four years old. I still remember Daddy screaming down the phone at the ambulance people that I was dying. It was kinda traumatising, you know?"

"I made sure there was no garlic in any of it, I didn't know if you could get a contact allergy." Finn shrugged.

By the time they were loading the plates into the dishwasher and Finn had finished talking excitable nonsense to Marcy's bump Bonnie's residual anger at him was mostly gone. She was still sore he'd felt it necessary to come find her at work but she supposed it made sense, let everyone in the hospital see her walking out with him voluntarily and not dragged off in handcuffs like King had been. If she'd been in Finn's position she'd probably have done the same thing, Bonnie realised. So when he took an extra couple of seconds to pull her into a closer hug than usual when he said goodbye Bonnie hugged him back tightly, so done with being mad at him. She was really lucky to have a friend like Finn fighting her corner, Bonnie thought.

...

Marceline shifted in her chair, uncomfortable. There was only so long she could stare at the floor and pretend to still be thinking about it. Finally she sighed and ran a hand through her hair in frustration.

"I guess I feel like this whole pregnancy has brought up a lot of questions about my Mum and why she left." she finally admitted. "I thought I was fine, like, I was over it. But now I know it's naïve to think I'm ever gonna get over the fact that one day the most important person in my whole life walked away without saying goodbye and went to die in agony surrounded by strangers. I just... I think about abandoning my babies and it's like someone's reaching into my chest and squeezing my heart and they're not even here yet. How could she walk away from her own daughter like that?"

The therapist nodded sympathetically, pausing before replying in case Marcy wasn't finished.

"Do you feel more that it's brought up questions you wish you could ask her? Or things you want to tell her?" he prompted after a moment.

"Both. Like, I want to know what was going through her head. I want to know if she even thought about my feelings at all or about Daddy's. Was their marriage really that bad that she could just leave him without a word like that? I can barely stand to be apart from Bonnie for a week when she's away at one of her stupid doctor conferences. And I wanna ask Daddy too, did he really mourn her all those years or was he just too scared to get hurt again? Did he date while I was away at school or anything? But I'll never ask him. We don't have the kinda relationship where I can ask stuff like that. I want my Mum to know how hurt I was when she left, how it gave me a lifetime of trust issues and insecurities that have threatened to ruin my own relationship more than once. And I want her to know that she was selfish, that she was doing it out of fear instead of concern for me. I, yeah I have a lot of stuff I wish I could tell her." Marcy finished quietly. She was a little ashamed of how much had all come out in one go, she hadn't meant to ramble like that.

"Do you find that these feelings are bothering you a lot?" the therapist asked after a pause.

"I guess. I think about it a lot, especially now I'm home and not doing much through the day. I'm stressed because of Bonnie and this whole stalker ex and evil bastard former employee thing too but honestly even when she's having drama with that in the back of my mind I'm still thinking about my Mum. How am I supposed to move on and enjoy waiting for our babies to arrive when part of my brain is forever a traumatised seven year old?"

"And you found a letter your mother had left for you?" her therapist prompted.

"Yeah. I mean, I was already thinking about her. But that just made it a million times worse."

"Perhaps it would help you to come to terms with your feelings if you were to organise them all and put them down on paper? After all, letters can be answered even if their author isn't around to read it anymore. Perhaps you would find it cathartic to write your feelings down."

Marcy considered that. She had no idea what she even wanted to say in a letter to her long dead mother but the idea was still appealing somehow. And usually when she was worried or upset about something it helped to pin it all down on paper; that way it wasn't bouncing around the inside of her head anymore. She wasn't sure if writing a letter would even help but Marceline was willing to try anything by that point. So she nodded, pleased that she had a plan and she'd managed to finish this week's therapy session without bursting into tears again.

She left the therapist's office and took a taxi across town to get home since Bonnie was driving her car again while she waited for the vandalism to her own to be repaired. Marcy would be very surprised if the redhead didn't have a new car before summer though; no matter how perfectly they fixed the bodywork she'd never be able to forget what had been done to it. And since having a fancy car was one of the small pleasures that brightened up Bonnie's stressful and hectic work day Marceline couldn't find it in her to begrudge that to her partner. She entered the house thoughtfully, humming under her breath and wondering how she'd even begin to write a letter to her mother.

"Hey Peps, you wanna come help me write some stuff?" Marcy asked when she caught sight of the large grey cat watching her solemnly from halfway up the staircase. He permitted her to stroke his head a couple of times before he stood up haughtily and disappeared upstairs with his tail flicking in annoyance. Marcy followed him; she'd rather be comfortable in her study if she was going to try to write.

With the heating on full blast against the early spring chill, nice soft mood lamps lit and some relaxing Satie on the radio Marceline finally turned her attention to the blank piece of paper in front of her on her desk. It just hadn't felt right to write the letter on her laptop, not when it was something so personal. She tried a couple of times to plan how she'd approach it in her head before deciding she was overthinking the whole thing and simply put her pen to the page and let the words flow.

 _Mum,_

 _I hardly even know how to write this, what do you say to a dead woman? But my therapist said it would help and I suppose he knows what he's talking about. So. Hi, I'm your daughter. I'm twenty nine, I'm a professional musician and I'm thirty one weeks pregnant with twins, your first grandchildren. I'm also a lesbian. So if you have a problem with that... well that's usually where I'd tell you that if you have a problem with that you can fuck right off but I guess it's hard to fuck off from the afterlife. I wish I knew if you'd be ok with me and Bonnie. But Mum, she's brilliant. She makes me so happy. I mean, she can be a total buttface too but you know how relationships are, I bet you and Daddy used to scream at each other too. Did he work long hours and get snappy with you when he was tired? Did you try to plan tiny things to make his life run a little more smoothly only for him to be in too much of a rush to even notice? Sometimes I think I could walk out the door and disappear and she'd only notice I was gone a week later when she ran out of clean work shirts._

 _And that leads me to the actual point of the letter. You walked out and left us. I joke about walking out on Bonnie but I can't even begin to imagine how that must have felt for Daddy. He was so in love with you, Mum. And he was trying to do everything to look after you and look after me and keep his job and not break down from it all. Do you know how badly you crushed his heart? I remember the first day I saw my father cry. It was when he told me you'd gone away to get ready to be with the angels. He didn't cry when you were diagnosed, he didn't cry when they said you were terminal. But something in him broke the day you left him and I don't think it ever healed properly. Daddy isn't perfect, God knows he's got a fuckton of flaws. But he tried for me. He tried until he was so broken he had to give me up, for my own good. I'm so lucky my foster parents were amazing because too many kids in care get abused and treated like shit. Betty was my new Mum and she was so different from you and similar too and now when I try to think back to you I don't know if I'm remembering your scent or the perfume she used to wear. And Simon, God he's such a goofball. I love him to bits. Simon gave up his career to be home with me, he said it was for his health but it was so I wouldn't feel alone. That first year he home schooled me, I was too scared to go to the village school in case I came home and he or Betty were just gone without any explanation. So he was a stay home Dad and Betty went to work. You know what? They say that men subconsciously date women who remind them of their mothers and I suppose the same must be true for lesbians. Because Betty was a nurse before she retired. And Bonnie's a doctor. They both have red hair, glasses, freckles and a totally badass attitude. They're both practical and sporty and perfectionists. And I think it says a lot that my girlfriend is the literal opposite of you. She's rational, scientific, she would make more or less any sacrifice if it was for her responsibilities. I think I need to be with someone like that because Bonnie makes me feel safe in a way I don't even need to think about. She's the last person in the world who's gonna walk out on me without a word. The opposite of you._

 _And this year something amazing happened, Mum. Daddy has a girlfriend. At first I thought she was another ditzy hippy, poor guy sure does have a type. But Theresa, as much as I try hard to dislike her, is perfect for him. She's warm and open, she's annoyingly genuine. There's nothing hidden with TT, what you see is what you get. I doubt she even knows how to tell a lie. And yeah she lives in a gumdrop world of apple pies and pretty flowers, she sees the world through a rose tinted brain. But one of the things I learned since you died was that the kindest people have almost always known the greatest sadness. And now I'm wondering what happened in TT's life to make her appreciate all the tiny things in this world like she might never see them again. She doesn't take anything for granted and that usually means that she's lost something important. You know what? I just realised that she's not as bad as I thought she was. I think I'm gonna drop by her bakery some time, I'll bring her some flowers and we can start over with getting to know each other._

 _Mum, this letter is getting too long. I'm gonna wrap it up. But I want to tell you that you broke me and Daddy when you left. You told me in your letter it was to protect me but all it did was make me terrified of losing people. But that turned me into the person I am today so in a way I supposed I should thank you. At the very least you gave me a wonderful example of how not to inform young children of a serious illness in the family. But despite all that I'm still gonna love you forever. You're my Mum and I miss you every hour of every day. I wish you'd been here when I needed advice on my morning sickness, I wish you'd seen me graduate or play my first professional concert. Wish you could come see us in the hospital and hold your newborn grandchildren. You weren't perfect, Mum. And I know I'm not either. I'm gonna fuck up and leave my kids with emotional scars at some point, my best friend Jake said so and he has five kids. The eldest walked in on them conceiving the youngest so I supposed he'd know what he's talking about in terms of accidentally traumatising your offspring. I want to forgive you, Mum. I really do. And I'm trying. I know the cancer spread to your brain in the end and it could have screwed with your head, made you believe stuff that you wouldn't have otherwise. I'm trying hard to let go of the pain and guilt and just focus on the time we did have together. And I'm closer than ever. But even after all these years I just need time. I still love you, Mum. I always will. And one day I think I'll be able to forgive you too. But I don't know when. I might write to you again sometime, this was painful in a sort of good way. I miss you, I love you._

 _Your daughter,_

 _Marceline x_

She read it through three times, wiped the evidence of tears from her cheeks then stood from the desk to go back downstairs and fix a load of laundry. Bonnie would need some fresh work shirts soon and the dishwasher could stand to be emptied. Life didn't stop just because she'd started pulling the stiches out of the wounds in her heart.

...

"Five weeks."

"I know it's a bit tight. But, I mean, I'm eager to learn. That's gotta count for something, right?"

"But, five weeks is barely any time at all."

"Come on, you promised. Please?"

Bonnie sighed and rolled her eyes. Jake knew he'd won, he was grinning at her.

" _Fine_. Marcy, love, can you play a slow basic waltz please?" she asked instead. Marceline levelled her a disbelieving look from her seat behind the piano.

"Can I...? I'm not even gonna dignify that with an answer. I don't even need to be awake to play a basic waltz." she scoffed, playing it flawlessly with one hand on the middle of the keys without even watching what she was doing. Bonnie flashed her a grateful smile anyway.

"Right." the redhead announced, turning to Jake. "Mr Bridegroom, you need to come here and put your hands on my waist in a way that if you try under any other circumstance I'll break your wrist. Ok? Here. And clasp my other hand. Come on dude, you need to stand closer or we're not gonna be able to dance."

He shuffled forward awkwardly, cheeks flaring with embarrassment.

"I, um, this is closer to anyone who wasn't Lady I've been in a very long time." he mumbled, looking down at his feet.

"Eyes up, please. Half of dancing is the correct posture. Ok, first off I want you to use your right leg and just take a step forwards when I say step. I'll take a step back. Then move your left leg next to the right on the second beat. Then on the third beat move your left leg out a shoulder's width. Got it? Ok. One, two, three. Step! Two, three. Step, two, three, st-"

"Argh!"

"Yeah, you're gonna want to not step on my toes."

"Are you wearing steel toe caps?"

"You're huge and clumsy and stomping near my feet with your giant man-hooves. Yes I'm wearing steel toe caps. Again. One, two, three. Step! Two, three."

After a few minutes of watching them step up and down the music room Marceline lost interest and decided to do something more entertaining. So she gave up the boring slow waltz tune she'd been repetitively keying and instead switched seamlessly to something familiar and much more beautiful, letting the words flow in as she played because it had been a long time since she'd sang that particular song anyway.

 _"Moon river, wider than a mile._

 _I'm crossing you in style someday._

 _Oh dream maker, you heart breaker,_

 _Wherever you're going, I'm going your way."_

The music died in her throat when she realised that Bonnie and Jake had stopped waltzing and were staring at her like she'd grown an extra head. Marceline flushed and her hands stilled on the piano.

" _Dude_ ," Jake breathed. "Can you do that at the wedding? That was beautiful!"

"Sure, why not? You're gonna have to find a piano for me though. Even if you could source a decent replacement harp I doubt I'd be able to play properly with these two stretching me double my usual size." Marcy replied, indicating her bump. It looked bigger than ever when she was sitting down; she spared a wry smile for the memory of stroking a hand down her perfectly flat stomach months earlier and wondering what it might look like when the babies were due. She'd innocently thought that she'd probably have a smallish bump because she was naturally willowy and slender.

"Hey, I'm so sorry about the harp. We had a long talk with Kim-"

"Don't even worry about it. Nothing lasts forever and I've got a hand carved replacement on order with this guy from Belgium I found online. I'm not gonna be able to play the harp for a while anyway so I can easily wait the two month delivery time." she shrugged. Even still Jake looked guilt on Kim's behalf, he'd been horrified when he found out his son had destroyed Marcy's precious harp.

The rest of the waltzing lesson went fairly smoothly excepting the few times Jake stubbed his toes off Bonnie's steel toe caps and yelped like a puppy. Lady was one lucky bride, Marcy thought to herself. Not many guys would put themselves through weeks of Bonnie's rather strict military style instruction so they could surprise their new wife at their wedding reception. Lady could dance of course, she'd regularly gone to ballroom lessons with Bonnie when the two of them had first met as students and lived next door to each other. By the time Jake was yawning into his hand and making noises about heading home it was getting late and once the front door had closed behind him Bonnie and Marcy both turned instinctively to the stairs, making each other smile.

"We're doing that thing where we turn into the same person again." Bonnie said playfully as they made their way up to bed.

"Damn that lesbian hive mind." Marcy replied a little breathlessly as she heaved herself up the stairs. She wondered how she was going to manage for the next nine weeks, she was only going to keep getting bigger until the babies were ready to come into the world. Bonnie must have noticed how hard she was breathing though, she insisted Marceline sit on the bed and get her breath back while the redhead fetched her vitamins and pyjamas. Once they were snuggled down under the duvet together Marcy rested her head on her partner's shoulder and pulled her as close as her wriggling bump would allow.

"Remember when we were so excited by every little kick?" Bonnie murmured as she ran a hand lovingly through her girlfriend's hair.

"Mm, now it's like having a washing machine full of angry ferrets in my stomach. _Cute_ angry ferrets though." Marcy agreed.

"Adorable, the cutest. If they're anything like their Mum then they're gonna be a pair of absolute heartbreakers."

" _You're_ a heartbreaker."

Bonnie didn't reply and the silence stretched for a few minutes. Marcy was wondering how to even begin with the subject that had been bothering her all day but in the end she just had to ask bluntly and hope it would be unexpected enough to break through the redhead's tough exterior.

"Hey babe? Was everything ok at work today?"

Bonnie tensed a little at the question, probably not just because she wasn't used to her partner asking her about work.

"Yeah. I guess. Don't really wanna talk about it, it was just busy." she finally replied quietly.

Marcy considered whether to push it more but in the end it was too warm and comfortable and it had been ages since they'd just found time to cuddle up together like that. So she let it go, just for that night. But she knew Bonnie was doing that thing where she took all of her stress and locked it all away in a small mental box until everything got too much and it exploded out of her catastrophically. If Marceline could just find the right words to get her partner to open up and deal with things before they got to that point then everything would be fine but she'd yet to find a method that worked reliably. Bonnie was amazingly stubborn when she felt she was being pressured and Marcy had to find increasingly sneaky ways to get around the redhead's defences. There were a lot of things Marceline wanted to say; that she wished Bonnie would let her help when she was stressed, that she'd started working through her feelings about her mother leaving or that she understood more than ever why people used 'expecting' as a synonym for pregnant because she felt like she'd never waited so long for something in her whole life. But the words escaped her, baby brain was turning her mind to mush again and it was much too comfortable lying listening to Bonnie's heartbeat and feeling her chest rise and fall gently as she breathed. The redhead said something, Marcy felt it rumble softly through her chest, but she was already on the wrong side of sleep to be able to make sense of the question much less formulate a coherent reply. A moment later Marcy was vaguely aware that the room had gone dark and her girlfriend had moved a little, shifted so they were snuggled more comfortable together. Then sleep overwhelmed her completely and she slid into distant dreams of their little family.


	32. Week 32

**Hey guys, here's my usual apology for not keeping my promise to update regularly. The sharp eyed amongst you might have noticed I've been lacking in motivation for a while now. I'm not gonna go into details, it's just personal stuff that really really sucks. I will tell you all to go ahead and let people know how much you love them while you can though, in case circumstances ever unexpectedly stop you from being able to. Because I know you know, but it's horrible. Anyway as the late, great Mr Mercury himself said "the show must go on." What else can I do but keep writing?**

 **FYI a Goldspire is a type of maple tree. As in, maple syrup? That go on waffles? That you eat for breakfast? Yeah. Breakfast Princess. And the Darwin's Fox is a legit species of fox. You remember Mr Fox and his unrequited love of Boobafina, right? I have no shame.**

 **Content warning: medical drama.**

* * *

"Marcy? Um, you should put your outdoor clothes back on, looks like we're going out to dinner. You were right, you can't melt halloumi. But you can totally burn it. Sorry."

Bonnie's voice floated up the stairs to her a moment before the scent of over-charred cheese hit her nose and she groaned in annoyance. She'd left the pan for all of five minutes to go change into her pyjamas, she'd even turned the heat down. It shouldn't be too much to ask her partner to keep an eye on the food while she struggled into some comfortable pants, right? With a sigh Marceline grabbed her maternity leggings and wrenched them back up her legs before making her slow way down to the kitchen where the redhead in question was scraping black lumps regretfully into the bin.

"You're hopeless. You know what? I'm not even surprised anymore. Come on then, where are we going?" she asked instead.

"Uh, well it's a Friday night, places are gonna be booked already. So that doesn't leave us with many options." Bonnie replied. Her tone was consolatory and apologetic and Marceline knew exactly what she was about to say before Bonnie even said it.

"I mean, the only place we're guaranteed a table is-"

"Treehouse. Yeah. Fine, let's go abuse Jake's hospitality." Marcy finished with an eye roll.

She'd had a thoroughly boring day at home and had been looking forward to spending time with Bonnie someplace private, not surrounded by a hundred other people in what was rapidly becoming the most popular restaurant in town. But she was at least glad that the glowing review from the New Year papers had had such a positive effect. Jake's plans to open a second venue were going well too and he'd put down a deposit on an old run-down conservatory by the riverside. The idea was for B-Mo to take over the normal evening running of Treehouse and Jake to build up what he'd tentatively named The Glasshouse, leaving him free to work a more normal day rhythm as his children grew while B-Mo got his experience in a successful restaurant that already had a good reputation. It seemed like a pretty good plan as far as Marcy could see.

Treehouse itself was a custom designed architectural wonder that Jake had bought cheaply from another restaurant when they went bust. Its owners had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds building the beautiful curved structure from reclaimed wood and forgotten that the most important thing about a restaurant was its food, which had been pretty mediocre. But even though the original owners were long gone the gentle organic spiral of wood and glass set in its own purpose built bamboo garden was no less breath taking than when Jake had first shown it to them. He'd bought it at auction, poured every penny he and Lady owned into it along with a large investment from his business partner Big Mo and his own Dad. Even in the cold rain of a dark March evening the soft golden uplights he'd added to the building's façade made Treehouse look warm and welcoming. But there was something off about the place as Marcy approached; normally she could see plenty of guests through the double height glass front of the building but tonight the lights on the mezzanine level were dimmed and it looked almost deserted. She turned to Bonnie questioning but the redhead was steaming on ahead like she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary and next second she'd disappeared through the glass double doors into the building. Marcy followed more slowly, already in a bad mood from having her dinner ruined. She had no idea why Bonnie was acting like she'd forgotten her girlfriend was even there but the moment they were seated Marceline was resolved to give her a piece of her mind, just quietly so the other guests wouldn't hear. But when she finally followed Bonnie through the glass doors a sudden chorus of "Happy Birthday to You!" stopped her in her tracks. There was Bonnie, smiling slyly at her from a crowd of their closest friends and family under a huge banner hung from the mezzanine level that read 'HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY MARCELINE!"

"You are the sneakiest of bitches, you know that?" she asked Bonnie as soon as the singing was finished and Marcy had managed to overcome her surprise a little.

"You think I _enjoyed_ having to stand there and deliberately burn your dinner? I know I suck at cooking but come on, I'm not quite that stupid." the redhead replied around a smug grin.

"But my birthday isn't until Sunday!" Marcy protested as Jake hurried forwards and pressed a non-alcoholic daiquiri into her hands.

"Yup. And we're having a little party for TV and Violet on Sunday and you're coming to that. But we thought you'd like a night of your own where you don't need to share your birthday with two year olds and end up playing pass-the-parcel all afternoon." Jake replied once he'd let her go from his bearhug. It was thoughtful of him, Marceline hadn't had an actual birthday party the year before because she'd been helping Jake and Lady host a first birthday for their twins, and the year before that she'd been at the hospital meeting the latest additions to her extended family.

There was a buffet and presents for the birthday girl along with a fruit punch fountain that Jake usually saved only for the very fanciest of private parties who booked the whole venue. He'd really pulled out all the stops; Finn must have mentioned way she'd wolfed down those chocolate and banana waffles a few weeks earlier because the dessert table was groaning under the weight of every sweet dish Jake knew how to make. It didn't escape Marcy's notice that Bonnie's eyes lit up a little when she cast her gaze over the rows and rows of cakes and pastries; the redhead had a terrible sweet tooth.

"You should turn thirty every year." Bonnie smiled as she loaded a plate with trifle.

"Yeah? Well if you keep on shovelling sugar into your face like that you're not gonna live past forty." Marcy retorted. Her partner rolled her eyes.

"Sure, because I totally don't burn the calories off in my hours-long gym sessions or when I'm dealing with the colossal background stress of my life. It's not like I splurge often anyway, you're the one with the addictive strawberry syrup habit. How many daiquiris is that tonight?"

"They're non-alcoholic."

"Sugar free, though?"

"Pft, as though anything in my life is Sugar free."

Next second Bonnie squeaked and hastily shoved her plate on the table, just managing to balance it so it didn't spill across the floor as Marcy tugged her forward and pressed a kiss against her lips.

"You're the worst." she murmured between kisses, giggling just a little reluctantly and then sighing when the kiss became subtly deeper. They broke off sheepishly when a high pitched voice behind them cut in with an exaggerated chorus of vomit noises.

"Uncle Finn, Aunty Bonnie and Aunty Marcy were _snogging_!" Kim yelled across the room in delighted outrage.

"Yeah, they do that sometimes. It's gross." Finn agreed amiably. He came across to them and crouched down next to his nephew, screwing up his face and making loud smooch noises at Kim who shrieked and put his hands up to fend off the enthusiastic kisses. Bonnie rolled her eyes again and reclaimed her plate before Kim noticed her unguarded dessert.

"Like two peas in a pod." she sighed. "I'd ask Jake to take a DNA test to be sure but he's just as incorrigible as you are. And where's your lovely lady tonight?"

"Right here." Phoebe spoke up, coming around the buffet table with a wriggling Charlie balanced on one hip and a plate of food in her other hand. "Happy birthday, Marcy. I'd swear they got the date wrong and you're not a day older than twenty."

"My secret is bathing in the blood of-"

"Hey Kim, Charlie! Let's get ice cream!" Bonnie announced loudly over Marcy before she could finish that sentence. The last thing they needed was a curious Charlie asking Lady what a virgin was when she got tucked into bed later that night.

Marceline watched her partner abandon her plate of trifle with a reluctant glance as her hands were claimed by Kim and Charlie who dragged her back to the buffet table. For all her worries that she lacked maternal instincts Marcy knew Bonnie was going to be a brilliant mother, she'd already been thoroughly put through her paces by Jake and Lady's brood. Almost like he'd read her mind Finn sidled up to her shoulder and muttered in her ear.

"Still worrying about how she's gonna cope?" he asked sympathetically.

"A little. She's been a lot better but then all this crap with her ex and that dick from the hospital came up. I barely see her anymore, she's working or she's in the gym or she's asleep. And I know I'm probably just bored from being home all day and she can be the biggest asshole the world's ever seen. But dammit, she's _my_ asshole and I miss her."

"I'm afraid it's only bad news from our end too. The investigation's hit a brick wall. Her ex, the one armed chick? She has a pretty watertight alibi for that night. And I doubt BonBon's gonna wanna hear it. We spoke to both the women Crazy Ex was hooking up with the night of your baby shower and they're both adamant that all three of them were getting wet and messy in Hookup Chick One's hotel room. King's got an alibi too; he was pass out drunk with that little squirrel faced dude, what's his name? Jason Ontario?"

"Toronto." Marcy corrected him automatically. "He's the creep at the hospital who seems to be King's bosom buddy. Hey, do you think he had anything to do with-"

"His finances are clean as a whistle, we already checked. That's why I'm a couple of months away from making detective and you're a glorified violin teacher." Finn grinned with a ghost of his old humour in his voice.

"Wait, King was getting drunk with his buddy? Shouldn't he be in jail?" Marcy frowned. She didn't like that the bastard was walking the streets, didn't trust him any further than she could have thrown him.

"Fraid so. He got bailed, he's been assessed as not a danger to anyone. None of the crimes he's charged with were violent, he's no longer in a position to financially abuse anyone now. So they didn't want to waste the money that it would cost to keep him locked up, he's free to pay for his own damn dinner. He's got to stay at his own home and check in at the police station every week, he's not allowed to contact Bonnie or any of the patients or parents or he'll get dragged back into cells again to wait there and be a drain on the public purse. But for now he's stuck to those conditions and we've no reason to think he's gonna break them. I'm sorry. But like I said, he's got an alibi."

"He's lying." Marcy breathed. "I know he is."

"But we gotta prove it. No proof, there were no prints at the scene and nobody's gonna break open the fibre and DNA swab kit for a clear cut vandalism attack. He's innocent until proven guilty, that's how the law works." Finn replied regretfully. Marceline whirled on him, suddenly angry.

"Then find some proof! What about that email? Has someone looked at that?"

"Whoever sent that did it through a VPN. Looks like it came from the Solomon Islands; unless you pissed off someone over there then they're hiding their IP address. And nobody's going to start cracking open an encrypted network for a malicious email, I'm sorry. It's just not considered serious enough to escalate at this point."

"So when is it serious enough? When someone breaks into our house and murders us while we sleep? When whoever it is strolls up to Bonnie and stabs her in the back of the neck? It's really simple, Finn. Either it's Shoko or it's King. Arrest them both and this will be sorted."

"Marcy, I wish it was that simple. But they both have alibis. We've gotta follow the law or they'll walk free when it comes to court. I told Bonnie the same thing, we're doing everything we can."

"Doesn't feel like enough." she muttered, gazing worriedly across the room to where Bonnie was pretending to laugh every time Charlie 'tickled' her and jabbed her sharp little fingers against her aunt's ribs.

"I know. It really doesn't." Finn replied sorrowfully. He rested a hand on Marcy's shoulder and she fought the urge to shrug him off. It wasn't Finn's fault.

That night before they went to bed Marceline took a few extra minutes downstairs while Bonnie brushed her teeth and took her make up off, locking and relocking the front and back doors as well as the side door into their small conservatory. She checked the windows too and stared worriedly up the dark street for a long minute before Bonnie called down to ask if she was coming to bed or not.

...

Sunday morning revealed Marcy had come down with a particularly nasty cold, probably because of the extra sloppy birthday kiss a snotty Charlie had insisted on pressing against her lips on Friday night. So instead of going to TV and Violet's birthday party they spent an unusually relaxed day on the sofa in pyjamas, snuggling and talking about baby names. It was almost normal, almost like there wasn't some stalker creeping along behind every shadow and waiting for the opportunity to strike. Bonnie had stopped commenting on Marceline's new habit of checking all the doors and windows before bed and had almost forgotten about it when she sat down in the interview chair on Monday morning. There was just enough time to flick through her notes before the HR and admin representatives traipsed in with bags under their eyes and a paper cup of to-go coffee apiece, looking equal parts hungover and exhausted. Sometimes Bonnie wondered how nobody else seemed to notice they went everywhere together and turned up to work within minutes of each other every morning but it wasn't her place to judge; she simply nodded to the pair of them as they took the empty chairs by her side.

"Elena, good to see you again." Bonnie greeted the next woman to enter the room. She stood and extended her hand.

"Dr Sugar. I wish it was under better circumstances." Dr Princess replied as she took her own seat.

They went over all the basics, why she wanted to work on the Wolfson Unit, her previous experience and references. Elena was head and shoulders above the other candidates who'd applied to fill King's position and she had the experience edge from when she'd covered his rotation during his suspension the year before. When the interview concluded and she stood again and took Bonnie's hand the redhead smiled at her in a way that probably left very little doubt about whether she'd be getting the job or not.

"It's your unit, Dr. Your call." the HR guy shrugged disinterestedly when the door closed behind Elena.

"She's qualified, her references are impeccable and we already know she fits into the team. Give it the appropriate length of time and send out polite rejection letters to the other candidates, we've found our new oncologist."

Bonnie squinted at her watch and quickly gathered together all of her files and notes along with her now empty coffee mug before hurrying back to her office; she should have a minute to review the next set of notes before the father of a new boy on the ward came for a consultation. But she'd barely opened the file before there was a knock on her door and an anxious middle aged man was hurrying forward to shake her hand.

"Mr Fox, I'm glad you could come. I was just looking over-" she glanced at the file and had to repress the urge to roll her eyes- " _Darwin's_ case notes." Darwin Fox. She wondered if the father had any idea that his son's name was a taxonomy joke, if the boy's mother still thought her son's name was funny.

The consultation usually went the same way; Bonnie tried to explain as simply as possible why their child was sick and what she was going to do about it. She would reassure the parent that everything possible was being done for their child or else try to gently prepare them to say goodbye. She would try to give them the facts without sugar coating and without either blame or false hope. Mr Fox was staring at her with a deep furrow in his brow almost from the very start.

"So, wait, his cancer just... started growing one day?" he interrupted. Bonnie broke off from explaining that they'd shrink the tumour in his gut with chemotherapy before attempting a surgical removal; clearly the man hadn't been listening.

"In some very unlucky children cancer can start at a very young age, it's usually due to a genetic abnormality. That's not to say that you or Darwin's mother have done anything wrong or are at an increased risk of developing cancer yourselves." she soothed.

"But you said it was genetic."

"In the sense that it's caused by an accumulation of mutations in his genes, yes. Not every illness that has a genetic basis is inherited though. Some cancers care caused by an inherited genetic problem but Darwin has simply been unlucky enough to accumulate these mutations much earlier in life than most people affected by cancer."

"Wait, he's a mutant?" the man asked, eyes widening. Bonnie sighed internally; she usually tried to avoid that word but eventually there was no way to describe cancer that didn't involve referring to mutations. She knew where this conversation was headed, way back in her junior oncology days before a kindly consultant had clued her in she'd innocently thrown around terms like 'mutation' with predictable results.

"Not like the mutants of popular culture, no. He's not about to turn into Wolverine. A mutation is simply the medical term for a small change in the DNA of a cell; mostly they're harmless but in some cases the mutation occurs in a part of the DNA responsible for controlling growth. When that happens the cell can grow out of control and form a tumour."

"Oh."

Eventually the consultation ended and Mr Fox left to go spend some time with his son. Bonnie's nerves were frazzled. So when her desk phone rang when she was trying to type up Darwin's notes she ignored it let it ring; it would go through to Lydia to take a message if she didn't pick up. A minute later the curvy woman's head appeared around her door.

"Um, Dr Sugar? I've got Ultrasound calling for you to get down there as quickly as possible." Lyds told her with a frown.

"Jesus, don't Ultrasound have their own damn consultants? I'm snowed under here." Bonnie growled without looking up.

"Right? But, um, James wants to know if you're coming to Marcy's scan or not?"

 _Shit fuck shit fucker fucking bastard shitfuck!_

Bonnie shot out of her chair like it was on fire and sprinted for the doorway; Lydia just managed to duck out of the way in time. As she hammered the elevator call button desperately she heard Lys pick up the reception phone and say,

"Yeah, I think she's on her way now. Like, can you wait for five minutes?"

...

By the time the ultrasound examination room doors burst open and a dishevelled looking Bonnie almost tripped into the seat by her bed Marcy was furious. She turned her face from her partner and set her jaw stubbornly.

"Marcy, I'm sorry. A consultation overran and I didn't notice the time, I-"

"We'll just start please, James." Marcy said loudly over the top of her.

"Come on, honey, I'm sorry." Bonnie pleaded quietly.

Marceline ignored her, folding her arms firmly across her chest so Bonnie had no chance to catch hold of one of her hands. She stayed silent through James awkwardly squeezing the contact gel onto her huge stomach and refused to acknowledge Bonnie at all when the redhead placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Well, and there's Sophia." James announced into the tense silence.

"Ingrid." Marceline corrected him.

"I thought you liked Sophia? We agreed, I thought-" Bonnie started, confused.

"Ingrid. Her name is Ingrid." Marcy said again, still not looking at her partner.

"Right. Fine then, Ingrid it is. I like Ingrid, it's a nice name." Bonnie said to nobody in particular, since Marceline was decidedly not talking to her.

"Well she looks just fine." James said a little desperately, obviously very uncomfortable. "And let's take a look at your boy."

"Erik." Marcy said firmly. "He's going to be an Erik."

"You hate the name Erik. You said it was stupid and too Disney, I suggested Erik months ago." Bonnie hissed in an undertone. Marceline ignored her.

"Oh... wait, that doesn't look... hmm..." James muttered quietly, frowning at the screen. And just like that the tension between them disappeared like it had never existed, replaced with a sudden heart-stopping fear. Marcy's fingers laced through Bonnie's and gripped tightly, they both sat forward and stared harder at the screen too.

"What? What's wrong with him?" Bonnie asked. She was scanning the image, trying to spot whatever James had noticed on the screen. Both babies looked perfectly healthy from what she could tell, both had a strong regular heartbeat and good mobility.

"He just looks a little too small. Much smaller than his sister." James replied distractedly, still staring at the screen and making notes on the record. "He's always been littler but he doesn't seem to have grown as much as we'd have expected, even for a smaller twin."

"But he's ok, right?" Marcy prompted.

"He's... I want you to have a meeting with the consultant before we make any decisions, I've already said more than I should." James replied quietly.

Sitting outside of the obstetric consultant's office waiting to find out if their baby was too small to be healthy was a special kind of hell, Bonnie thought distantly. It felt like Marceline had already given up hope that he'd be fine, she was sobbing quietly with arms locked around Bonnie's neck and her face buried against the redhead's sweater to hide her tears from any curious onlookers. Bonnie herself was staring numbly at the floor, patting Marcy's back rhythmically because it was all she could think to do that might be comforting. It was weird when the consultant asked them to step into her office, weird when it was the same woman who she'd known for years and always came to work early to raid the breakfast bar in the canteen, whose breath was rumoured to stink of the breakfast eggs she loved so much. But by then Bonnie wouldn't have cared if she'd been wearing blood soaked demonic sacrificial robes and burping goat intestines on them so long as she was a competent obstetrician. The doctor reviewed the notes sent up from ultrasound, sighing under her breath and nodding to herself.

"Well. I wasn't expecting to see you today, Dr Sugar. I had no idea the two of you were expecting, congratulations. And we're here to look over Sugar Junior's low growth rate. I don't think we've met? I'm Dr Goldspire." the woman said, extending her hand to Marceline. She took it and gave it a quick squeeze in lieu of a shake, still too distraught to really focus on being polite.

"Marceline Abadeer. I'm the one who's carrying." she murmured. Dr Goldspire smiled a little, glancing down at her huge bump.

"So I see. Well from what I can tell from the ultrasound photos your little man is quite a bit smaller than his sister but that's not necessarily something to worry about. Babies tend to grow in fits and starts, he might just be a little behind her. But with twin pregnancies babies tend to be smaller than singletons anyway, they have less room to grow. I'm going to request a foetal echo Doppler scan to have a closer look at his blood flow and umbilical arteries. We need to rule out IUGR." she seriously.

"That was my first worry too." Bonnie nodded. "Are you thinking of premature delivery?"

"Not until we know exactly what's going on. We'll need the echo back and I'll want to see a live ultrasound for myself before we make any kind of decisions regarding an elective pre-term versus in-utero management." Dr Goldspire replied. Marcy frowned, looking back and forth between them.

"Does anyone wanna tell me what IUGR or an elective pre-term is? I'm the one who's pregnant." she cut in. Bonnie sighed and squeezed her hand before replying.

"Intrauterine growth restriction. It's a serious problem in twin pregnancies where one twin takes up the majority of the available room and the other doesn't grow anywhere near as fast as they should. We need to see if Erik's getting enough blood flow, if he isn't then we might need to deliver them both straight away by caesarean. He won't be strong enough to survive a natural delivery if we induce him."

Watching the way the colour drained from Marcy's face in terror and the protective arms she flung around her bump was quite possibly the single worst moment of Bonnie's life at that point.

"No." Marcy said quietly, shaking her head. "No, they're too little, you can't induce them now. I can't have a caesarean, you can't cut me open. They're too small, they can't be born yet. Bon, no. They can't get born yet."

"I know it's hard to face, love. But if that's the safest thing for them then that's what we'll need to do." Bonnie replied in as soothing a voice as she could manage. Her calm, professional mask slid back into place almost without a thought.

"And we'll wait to see what the Doppler shows up, there's no guarantee we'll need to do anything more than monitor him for now. Dr Abadeer, I know this isn't something you want to happen but if you need an emergency caesarean then it's because that's the best thing for your son." Dr Goldspire told her.

It was only minutes later when Dr Goldspire wheeled another, larger ultrasound machine into the examination room and hooked it up to the screen. Marcy was too scared to even cry any more, all she could do was dazedly allow Bonnie to help her onto the examination bed and grip her bump as tightly as she dared, whispering soothingly under her breath to the babies with every flutter and kick. It was almost unreal to think that depending on the results of the second scan their twins might be delivered prematurely and taken away to the neonatal intensive care unit. Marceline tried to imagine how she'd feel without the constant wriggling bump that she'd grown to love so fiercely and it was beyond her; too impossible to think that it might just be gone without any warning. Very suddenly she wanted the kind of parental reassurance that Hunson hadn't been good at even before her mother got sick.

"Bon? If they have to take me straight up for delivery will you call Simon?" she whispered to her partner.

"Of course. Just, it might not come to that. Try to stay positive, love." Bonnie whispered back. She was watching what Goldspire was doing; they were both fairly young for department heads and if she'd been paying more attention Marcy might have noticed just a little bit of rivalry between the two. But she was too busy watching the screen, waiting for the image to flicker back to life and determine whether their children would be born far too soon. A second later the now familiar contact gel was back and Goldspire was running the transducer across her belly and frowning at the screen. All three women were silent, James hovered uselessly by the door and Marceline was certain everyone in the room must be able to hear how loud and fast her heart was pounding. Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, Goldspire nodded and smiled.

"He's small, yes. But his blood flow looks fine and he is growing. There's nothing to indicate that he's way below where we'd expect for his gestational age. Do you know his approximate time of conception?"

"Uh, our appointment was in the afternoon, I think it was about two thirty when they did the actual donation transfer. Oh but that'd be one thirty British time, we were in Denmark." Marcy replied without stopping to think about it.

"Ninth of August." Bonnie supplied. Goldspire smiled again.

"It's not often parents can be quite that specific about the actual time of conception." she told them. "But I suppose since this pregnancy was achieved by donation you can be sure of the date. Do we have any idea if the biological father was small as a neonate?"

"No, we have no way to contact him except through the clinic. I notified them when the pregnancy was confirmed and again when we discovered it was twins. Other than that we only know he's over six feet tall, twenty six years old, a redhead and studying medicine." Bonnie told Goldspire. It sounded very much like things weren't as dire as she'd worried, which was a relief. Goldspire nodded again thoughtfully.

"Well, for exactly thirty two weeks your boy's on the small side and he's hovering around about twenty five percent smaller than his sister. But it's not, quite, enough to diagnosed IUGR. Most importantly his blood looks fine, he's just at the lower limit of what we'd expect. For now I'd say it's a false alarm. Babies don't all grow at the same rate, even twins. For now I want you to get plenty of rest and come back in another two weeks to see how they're doing. Sugar, you should take her home and enforce bed rest if you have to. I'll call your useless receptionist and get her to cancel your appointments, clear it all with admin. Someone will be in touch to book you for a follow-up Doppler."

And with that Goldspire turned on her heel and swept regally from the room, presumably to go write up her notes and book the follow-up Doppler appointment. James hurried forwards the moment she left with a thoroughly relieved grin on his face.

"False alarm! Well I'm sure you'd rather I got a second opinion on something that turned out to be nothing than missed something serious, right?" he asked a little shakily.

"Yeah. Thank you, James. I do appreciate it." Marcy muttered as she wiped the contact gel off her bump again and pulled her overstretched maternity shirt back down as far as it would reach. She was in daze as they left the hospital together, barely registering that Bonnie was helping her into the passenger seat of her new car and securing the seatbelt around her. In fact very little got through Marcy's haze of shock and relief tinged with delayed terror until she looked up and found herself being gently stretched onto the sofa at home with Bonnie worriedly peering into her face.

"Bon? Why does Goldspire hate Lydia so much?" Marceline asked faintly.

"Because Lyds makes no secret that she's on a mission to sleep with every single guy in the hospital and Goldspire was overheard saying she was such a tramp she might as well go live in a box in the woods." Bonnie replied with a weary smile.

"Oh. Yeah, that's kinda mean." Marcy replied. She giggled a little, almost surprised to hear the noise coming out of her own mouth, and then just as unexpectedly she was crying huge shaking sobs of relief, horror and terrible helplessness. Bonnie just held her while she cried herself dry, hoping Marcy wouldn't notice the way her hands trembled from delayed fear. Everything was fine, it was a false alarm. It still took most of the afternoon for either of them to feel anything approaching normal again though.


	33. Week 33

**Guys I'm so sorry I haven't updated in forever, I had this chapter half finished before Christmas but I found myself unbelievably busy and stuff and unfortunately never had a spare minute to finish it. And weirdly this chapter was hard to write. So I'd appreciate if you all could send some love to my gorgeous fiancée Fox for all their help pushing me kicking and screaming through my horrendous writer's block. They are amazing and awesome and not to mention _totally smoking hot_. Three cheers for Fox!**

 **The end of this chapter is quite Lady heavy and I thought now might be a good time to fill you all in on a little more info about her in this universe. A little while ago I had a reviewer ask why Lady was a lawyer? I thought that was fairly obvious but maybe not, so in this universe I went with 'lawyer' because in cannon she appears to be some sort of ambassador/diplomat to the Grasslands. And it didn't seem terribly realistic to make her an ambassador in this universe but I like the idea of her being an independent and awesome woman so I reimagined her as a lawyer. Hope that makes sense to everyone. Anyway for the purpose of this story it worked and I'm honestly really pleased with how she's working out so far as a support character. Hope you all agree.**

 **Again, my deepest apologies for the awful delay in posting. We're close to the end, guys! We'll get there! But I've just been too busy, I've got a couple of one shots and requests bubbling away in the back of my brain too so keep checking back!**

 **Content Warning: historical minor character death, abuse of straight white middle aged asshole guys, general grumpiness. I'll try to update more quickly next time, I'm sorry!**

* * *

"Finn, are you awake?"

"No."

"People who are sleeping don't reply. Finn? _Finn."_

He rolled over and sighed, flicking on the lamp on the end table. Next second Marcy had prodded his knees and he automatically curled his legs up out of her reach, conveniently leaving space for her to plop down next to him on the sofa. She grinned at him. He sighed again before wriggling upright.

"Is it not enough that I gave you my bed? Do you need the sofa too? Am I gonna have to go sleep on the fire escape?" he asked, only half joking.

"Your bed is weird and lumpy and I can't stop my scumbag brain reminding me all the perverted things you do with girls in there."

"I changed the sheets for you!"

"I found panties that I sincerely hope belong to Phoebe behind your night stand!"

"What colour?"

"Red, polka dots, nice little lacy bits on the front, mesh over the butt part. Please God don't tell me they belong to Lydia."

"Oh, so now you want me to lie to you? Kidding, they're Phoebe's!" he added hurriedly when he saw the horror on his friend's face. "But seriously. Marce. Why are you awake in the middle of the night? I thought you were exhausted?"

She shrugged and avoided his eyes, picking at her nails instead. Finn reached over and prodded her shoulder in his most annoying little brother manner until she swatted his hand away and rolled her eyes.

" _Fine_. I miss Bonnie, she usually spoons me and I can't sleep properly without her. And apparently one or both twins have discovered the joy of lodging their tiny feet under my ribs and pressing with all their strength against my diaphragm. So breathing is becoming an issue. And your bed is uncomfortable."

"I told you we should have stayed at your place."

"And I told you there's no way I'm staying there when my kickass girlfriend is away and I'm so pregnant I can barely walk and we're being stalked at home by some crazed weirdo. So no, thanks Finn but I feel safer with you. Wanna hang out some?"

"Marcy, it's the middle of the night."

"It's five thirty, it's technically the middle of the _morning_."

"Fine. But I'm putting the Playstation on, you better be up for watching me slay some dragons."

By the time Bonnie called at eight to see how her girlfriend was doing they were engrossed in the game. Marceline grabbed her phone and waddled through to the kitchen to take the call where there was less shouting and general fire breathing.

"Hey?"

"Hey sweetie, did you sleep well? How are you feeling?"

Marcy rolled her shoulders to try to relieve some of the cramping in her spine before replying. Bonnie sounded tired too, a little stressed. A sulky part of Marceline's brain pointed out that nobody had forced her to drive halfway across the country to attend yet another boring medical conference. The hospital weren't even paying for her hotel. But Bonnie had insisted, like always. And it was the last major event she would be going to before she began jobshare. Marcy was secretly glad.

"I'm at Finn's place, didn't wanna stay home alone and I've not slept so much to be honest. His bed is lumpy. And the kids are very awake and very wriggly and-"

A loud voice from the lounge interrupted her.

"DIE ALREADY YOU SMUG SCALY MOTHERFUCKER! WHAT THE- HOW DARE YOU KILL MY HUSBAND?"

"-and Finn's playing videogames again so there's very little chance of sleeping through all the yelling." she finished morosely.

"Are you ok, honey? Did something happen?" Bonnie asked in concern. Trust her to pick up on the bit of the conversation where Marcy didn't feel completely safe at home.

"Yeah, I'm fine, nothing happened. I just didn't feel right being alone when whoever is stalking you is still out there and the police are no further forward. So I turned up like a lost puppy on Finn's doorstep instead. What time are you home tomorrow night?"

"Around five, I'll let you know when I leave. At least there's no chance I'll get pulled back into work after the conference. Angela pretty much hit the ground running and we're all set for her to take over half of my hours next week. And Princess is doing pretty well too, for an almost completely new team they're pulling together seamlessly."

"Good to know. Well I'll let you get to your conference, knock 'em dead, babe. You're gonna do awesome."

Marcy hung up the call and made her slow way back to the sofa via Finn's tiny bathroom. Once she'd finally lowered herself down next to him he paused the game mid-slay and turned to her.

"Everything ok with BonBon?" he asked, sounding more concerned than the brief conversation should really warrant.

"Yeah, she just wanted to check on me. She's giving a talk today and I think she's honestly a bit nervous. Most of the doctor types there are older than her and super resentful. She's young, hot and gay. Your average forty-something balding straight doctor man feels threatened by her very existence." Marceline shrugged.

"As they should be. I've always said, Bon's intimidating as fuck. I wouldn't wanna be facing off against her over a conference table." Finn nodded wisely.

"You'd piss yourself." Marcy replied with a wide grin.

" _You'd_ piss _yourself_." he retorted hotly. Then a strange expression came across his face and Finn turned a shrewd smile to his oldest friend. "So hey, speaking of such things, Lady said one time that towards the end of a pregnancy a woman can get a little... leaky? If you catch my drift."

"Don't. Do not even think it! I swear to god, Finn, if you make me piss myself-"

He launched himself at her with a laugh, already making tickle fingers in the air long before his hands found her ribs. The resulting black eye was totally worth it, Finn thought. Anything that left Marceline breathless from laughter and smiling again instead of obsessively checking her phone and fretting about this stalker business was fine in his book. Once she'd disappeared off to his bathroom for the thousandth time that hour he slipped his own mobile out and made a quick call to the detectives handling Bonnie's case, just to double check if there'd been an unexpected breakthrough while he'd been busy killing bladders and dragons.

...

By four o'clock that evening Finn was stir crazy. Entertaining his heavily pregnant bestie was fun but Finn hadn't been for his jog, hadn't seen his girlfriend and hadn't talked about anything except babies all day. Eventually he snapped, and texted Jake while Marcy was taking one of her frequent naps. Some time later the door opened quietly; Jake knew better than to ring the bell and wake Mama Bear. He tiptoed into the apartment and flung a hug around his little brother's shoulders.

"Dude, you should have called hours ago. Lady's got friends around for a spa night and the kids are at Dad's. I thought, yeah it's gonna be the two of us home alone, sexytimes, you know? Nope. They're lawyering and womaning all over the place, my front room looks like a bachelorette party from a low budget rom com. Go on, go run your nervous energy off. Here's some cash, stop by the good pizza place on the way home." the older Madigan whispered as he pressed some notes into Finn's hand. He just nodded to his brother, pointed at the bedroom and made a hushing motion before sneaking cat-like into the hall and sliding his trainers on. Before Jake could think better of his offer to Marcy-sit Finn had disappeared out of the door and was flinging himself down the main staircase as fast as his legs would carry him. For all his careful silence the moment he'd escaped Jake could hear his brother thundering down the stairs and out into the cold rain on the street. Not that Marceline stood much chance of being disturbed by it. The noises coming from the bedroom were so loud Jake was surprised she hadn't woken herself. Marcy was either snoring like a champ or sawing wood in there, it was hard to tell which. But at least the big guy was used to that kind of late-pregnancy snoring. Lady had definitely been worse. So instead of being annoyed by it or finding the rhythmic gurgling distracting Jake set about turning his brother's lounge into the same kind of awesome pregnancy-pad he'd made for Lady many times before safe in the knowledge that while there was a lot of feminine behaviour that left him clueless and confused at least looking after pregnant women was something he excelled at.

Half an hour later Marceline stumbled blearily through from the bedroom and stopped dead in the entrance to Finn's tiny lounge. Jake had just finished. He grinned up at her proudly.

"You're not Finn." she said a little thickly, still half asleep.

"Well spotted. I'm Jake, the other Madigan. Nice to meet you. I dunno if you remember but actually we have been introduced before, you sat next to me in English Lit in college and-"

"Why is the lounge a blanket fort?"

"Why isn't every lounge a blanket fort? Come on Grumpy-Bump, I made you a pillow throne in here and Finn's bringing pizza from the place that knows not to poison you."

"This better be worth the effort of getting down on the floor for." Marcy sighed with an eye roll. But Jake just grinned and disappeared inside the tent flaps he'd created from some spare bedsheets and a floor lamp. So with another sigh Marceline slowly lowered herself onto the carpet and followed him, grunting at the extra pressure it put on her already abused lower back.

"Y'know, my Mum kept all of her students' projects, the ones they didn't take home." Jake said unexpectedly from where he was stretched out on the pillows from the couch. Marcy got herself comfortable in the makeshift throne he'd made and grudgingly accepted that the big guy knew what he was doing when it came to arranging pillows.

"Did she keep my Venus de Milo?" Marceline asked curiously.

"Yup. She said it was the best papier-mâché sculptures she'd ever seen. Said you had a ton of natural art talent and it was a shame you didn't pursue it."

"Your Mum was brilliant, Jake. Really awesome. You know I only carried on with art into my second year because she was such a cool teacher? Jake, dude, I'm sorry. Is it... it's about that time of year, isn't it?" Marcy asked sympathetically. It had taken her a moment to remember that it would be about ten years since Jake and Finn's mother had unexpectedly passed away in her sleep. That explained why Jake was thinking about her.

"Yeah, next week. It's whatever, I miss her but these things happen sometimes. At least it was fast, painless. Not like- well, y'know." he finished at a mumble, suddenly awkward.

"Like my Mum, yeah I know. It's ok, man."

"Bet they're chilling out in heaven together. My Mum's probably talking your Mum's leg off about stuff we got up to at college. But I'm not here to bring us down! I was thinking about back in the day, is all. You think Finn still has that stupid flute somewhere? I asked but he never gave me a straight answer."

"Dude, probably. Remember when you stuffed a huge wad of bubblegum in the end? Oh man, his face! I thought his eyes were gonna bug outta his head!" Marcy laughed. Jake snorted too and grinned nostalgically.

"We were such little bastards. Orchestra was the highlight of my week."

"Mine too. Do you remember the Christmas concert?"

"Oh shit, yeah! That fucking concert!"

"Excuse me, miss scary goth-girl, um my friends dared me to eat some chocolate and my face is inflating, um, can I borrow your EpiPen?"Marcy mimicked Jake's squeaky nervous voice from years earlier. "Dude I swear, I should have known what I was getting into then. You looked like a curly blonde sausage."

"Yeah? You looked like a fancy sparkly sausage that night you met BonBon. Like an airplane lifejacket inflated in your face." Jake countered with a grin.

"That'll happen when you poison me. Still, I got Hot and Perfect Doctor Girlfriend out of it, I suppose I shouldn't complain." Marcy shrugged. "Besides, it makes for a good story."

Just then the apartment door opened and they heard Finn kick off his shoes in the hall.

"Yo, they didn't have any garlic-free mushrooms so I got Babygoth the tuna and corn instead, I- Jake? What the fuck did you do to my lounge?"

Jake stuck his head out of the front of the fort and grinned up at his younger brother.

"What's the password?"

"Let me in. I have your pizza, asshole."

"Yeah, that works. Come on in, we're having a slumber party. By the way do you remember that time when we were in college and I bunged up your flute with gum and you nearly put a hole in your lung trying to blow it out?"

Finn declined to answer and instead rummaged around in the plastic takeout bag dangling from the arm that he wasn't balancing pizza boxes with. Next second Jake lunged to catch the olive Finn expertly flicked at him, bouncing it off his forehead instead and making them all laugh. While Marceline was busy investigating her pizza and sniffing it cautiously for any trace of garlic the brothers' eyes met and they silently agreed; whoever was making Marcy and Bonnie's lives difficult was in for a world of trouble if either one of the Madigans got hold of them before the detectives did. Marcy was finally relaxed and happy, Jake and Finn would move mountains to make sure it stayed that way for her and their unborn niece and nephew.

...

Five o'clock came and went the next evening and Lady at least was checking her watch anxiously. Marcy just rolled her eyes when the dial-tone went to voicemail again.

"Hello this is Dr Bonnibel Sugar, I'm afraid I'm away from my phone right now but if you leave your name and a message at the tone I'll get back to you as quickly as I can."

"Hey, we're starting without you. Mrs Soon-To-Be-Madigan wants to get a move on and this place closes in an hour and a half. So get your butt here as quick as you can or I'm dumping you in a neon coloured chiffon dress with huge shoulder puffs and a mullet skirt. Don't think I won't. Love you, see you soon."

"Bonnie?" Lady asked hopefully as her frantic pacing brought her back to the front of the bridal shop.

"Just leaving her another message. I'd be worried but I'm sure she's fine, she's in my car and that thing's basically indestructible. Bon could crash it into an oil tanker and still walk away with barely a scratch. It's like she doesn't trust me to drive the babies around without the most over-engineered safety equipment Sweden has to offer. It's a Volvo." Marcy added at her friend's blank stare.

"Ok? And that's a good thing?" the Korean woman asked in confusion.

"Apparently they make the safest cars. I dunno, she started talking about crumple zones and internal caging and I just sorta spaced out for a while. Point is, Bonnie's probably safer in that thing than if she was in a lead-lined nuclear bunker. She's literally never been in a crash in all the time I've known her anyway. Now go get into that wedding dress and lemme see already!" Marcy finished, shooing Lady away to the changing rooms.

In the time it took for Lady and the woman who was fitting her dress to get her strapped, zipped and buttoned into place the shop door had opened again and an apologetic Bonnie had slid into the seat next to Marceline.

"Hey. Sorry I'm late, love. Traffic was awful." the redhead whispered remorsefully as she pressed a quick kiss to her partner's cheek.

"No worries, I thought you might just be delayed. Lady was panicking you'd had an accident or something. I did have my eye on a really ruffled egg-yellow dress for you though." Marcy grinned back.

"If I wear it you have to be seen walking around with me in it." Bonnie warned teasingly. Before Marceline could reply the dressing room opened and Lady stepped out shyly. They both broke off from their good natured bickering and caught their breath.

"So... do you like it?" Lady asked shyly.

"You look like a princess." Bonnie smiled, coming forward and hugging her friend, almost dazzled by how gorgeous Lady's dress was.

It had been a bargain-bin find that Jake had spotted, it needed a little tailoring and fitting but now that it was ready it looked like it had been custom made for the slight Korean woman. Her hair tumbled down her back in a long straight curtain and offset beautifully against the high lace neckline and wrist-length sleeves. The body of the dress fit snuggly around the lithe curves of her bust and hips before flaring a little on the waist into a narrow A-line skirt. Bonnie was right, Marcy thought, Lady did look like a princess.

Eventually they settled on a pretty strapless dress in dark blue satin for Bonnie and a matching short jacket and skirt combination for Marcy too. There was no way she was going to fit into a bridesmaid dress at thirty six weeks pregnant and she was pretty glad that Lady understood and didn't even suggest her trying one on. It was obviously a relief to the sales woman when they finally left and she could pull the shutter down across the shop front and go home too.

"Celebration cocktail? Quick celebration cocktail?" Lady asked hopefully as they made their way up the street away from the shop.

"Very quick. I'm about ready to fall asleep on my feet." Bonnie agreed. Marcy groaned but Lady shot her an apologetic grin and ducked into their usual bar which was conveniently right next to where Bonnie had left her car. Jake had driven Marcy and Lady to the shop on his way into work leaving Finn at home with the kids and Marceline was pretty certain that meant she was driving everyone home from the bar.

"So tell us all the gossip from your lady-lawyer spa night." Marcy prompted as they slid into their usual booth. Bonnie had wandered over to the bar to order and joined them a moment later with a strawberry juice for her partner and two Cosmopolitans.

"It was our Anti-Darren Club meet up." Lady nodded conspiratorially.

Her friends grinned in anticipation; the Anti-Darren Club had been a long running joke since Lady's first placement during university. The original Darren had been a particularly loud, racist, misogynistic old white man who'd embodied everything that was wrong with the legal profession. He swore at clients, he drank all day, he cheated on his wife every time he had the chance and he made no secret of the fact that he thought women were too stupid to be trusted with any important clients. Lady had quickly found herself on the receiving end of his vicious outbursts and had been ready to quit before she'd been quietly contacted by the sweet Filipino secretary from their department and initiated into the Anti-Darren Club. They were all women from ethnic minorities who were trying to kick out a career for themselves in an industry dominated by Darrens. Darren himself had retired a few years afterwards and the last they'd heard his wife had left him for their gardener; it was a fitting end for him but the Club had continued to meet. And last night had been Lady's turn to host her fellow minority lawyer women.

"Go on then. I fucking _love_ the Anti-Darren Club." Marcy enthused.

"Ok! So, you remember that guy from the accident at work place who tried to poach our paralegals last year? Turns out he's still creeping around and he was trying it on with my girl Una, she's pretty new at our satellite office downtown. Top of her class at Durham University, brand new and squeaky clean, half Ethiopian and she's definitely Anti-Darren Club material. Anyway Accident at Work dude tried to pick her up by calling her 'brown sugar' and telling her he likes his women the way he likes his coffee at an after-court mixer. I wish I'd been there to see her pour a whole pitcher of beer over his head and ask him if he meant cold, bitter and nowhere near his penis. Oh man, that woman is going places."

One quick cocktail turned into a couple more while they giggled over the antics of Lady's bigoted colleagues and they only left the bar when a disgruntled Finn called to ask Lady if she'd run away and abandoned the kids with him and Jake. She apologized profusely and they finished their last drinks quickly before piling into the back of Marcy's car. When they pulled up outside of Lady's place Jake's grinning head appeared in the window with a pyjama'd Kim on his shoulders waving furiously at them. Lady pressed a hasty kiss to each of their cheeks before wishing them goodnight and hurrying up the garden path then disappearing into the front door of the cottage.

"You think she'll be in trouble with Finn?" Marcy asked as she reversed out of their street.

"Nah, she can out-stare him at a hundred paces. He was probably just getting itchy feet again and I guess he doesn't like the idea of being left out when we all go to the bar. Besides I think he probably realised by now that Lady's shared more than one story about him with the Anti-Darren Club over the years." Bonnie shrugged in reply.

"He shouldn't say dumb white-boy things then. Finn's a great guy and I love him into a million pieces but sometimes he lets his brain take a coffee break while his mouth is still running." Marcy agreed.

"He definitely strays into fuckboy territory from time to time. Good thing he has us to keep him right."

Marcy and Bonnie chatted inconsequentially about the conference and Jake's epic blanket fort building skills on the drive home. Bonnie especially was looking forward to using her own shower and sleeping in sheets that hadn't been washed a thousand times before she got into them. By the time she was washed and changed for bed Marcy was already snoring with Cinnamon stretched out lovingly next to her on the duvet. But the fluffy ginger cat caught sight of Bonnie and leaped up in excitement, putting all of his weight on Marcy's stomach as he launched himself joyfully into the redhead's arms.

"MOTHERFUCKER! CINNAMON WHAT THE HELL?" Marceline yelled as her eyes shot open and she flung herself upright in shock. That of course caused the cat to dig his claws into Bonnie's arms in fear and make the redhead yell too and next second Marceline was elbowing them both out of the way and slamming the bathroom door shut behind herself. She reappeared a few minutes later, still fuming to herself, and got huffily back into bed with her back firmly to her partner.

"Don't get grumpy with me, I didn't make him jump on your bladder." Bonnie informed her with an eye roll as she flicked the lamp off. Marceline didn't reply, just huffed and pulled the duvet tighter around herself.

"I missed you, you know." Bonnie tried a few minutes later. She was greeted only by silence. With a sigh the redhead rolled onto her back and got comfortable to sleep. "Goodnight then. Maybe you'll be talking to me in the morning?"

She was almost asleep when a leg hooked over her own and the taut bump pressed against her hip. Bonnie wiggled automatically to slide an arm under Marcy's pillow and tow her closer. Next second Marceline's hand found it's favourite place around her waist and a cold nose pressed into Bonnie's cheekbone.

"Are we friends again, then?" Bonnie asked sleepily.

"No, 'm jus cold." Marcy muttered, only half awake.

"Sure. Love you." Bonnie replied with a drowsy smile.

"Mm. Love you too. Y'r a butt though."

"But I'm _your_ butt."

"Mhm. Lovely lovebutt. G'night."


	34. Week 34

**OHEYLOOK ANOTHER CHAPTER!**

 **Consider this an apology for the delay in posting the last one, and also a pre-emptive chapter because I'm gonna be incommunicado for a week starting tomorrow. Why? Because I have a very rare week off work and I intend to spend it unfucking my house and snuggling up with Fox. Send them some love! Two chapters in a row now exist because of them! Fox is the loveliest lovely.**

 **ALRIGHT SO this is a double length chapter because it's super important! And it comes with some fairly serious warnings because stuff is starting to get dark. It's gonna be light again but first, you gotta read 8000 words of dark. Sorry in advance if it's _too_ dark? But I have 100% awesome feedback from my proofer that it's still in keeping with the story despite the heavy subject matter.**

 **Content Warning: threats, illegal behaviour, racial slurs, homophobic language, assault, very painful sounding medical stuff, alcohol abuse, light existential crises.**

* * *

Months later it would end up being read out in court for everyone to hear. Months later it would be one of the key pieces of evidence that lead to the jury only needing half an hour to return a unanimously guilty verdict. But at the time the author hadn't intended it for anyone but their victim's eyes. The spikey writing was messy and erratic, affected beyond recognition by the excessive amounts of alcohol its author had drunk that night. That was what the defence lawyers would half-heartedly try to argue; the other evidence was pretty compelling on its own and the snarled confession heard by a number of witnesses was undeniable. But that letter, they would claim, was too vague and unrecognisable to pin on any one person. Not that it would be much of a defence when it was considered along with all the other evidence but they were used to being assigned hopeless cases by the court and in the end the only surprise in the verdict would be that the jury took a whole thirty minutes to agree.

"Looks like we got an early baby card." Marcy shouted up the stairs to Bonnie. "It's addressed to you but there's no postmark, I guess they hand delivered it. You want me to open it?"

"Mm. And put the coffee machine on please." her partner's voice replied sleepily. Marcy rolled her eyes; a few days into being part time and Bonnie was already very attached to having a lazy morning in bed. Best she enjoy it while she could. Soon enough they'd have newborn twins to look after and sleep would be a thing that happened to other people. Marceline opened the card curiously as she made her way slowly into the kitchen and groped for the coffee pot. Her hand stilled and dropped back to her side as she stared at the front then read the message inside.

 _I'M WATCHING YOU BITCH DON'T THINK I'VE FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU. YOU AND THE PAKI WHORE BETTER ENJOY YOURSELVES WHILE YOU STILL CAN. I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE AND I KNOW HOW TO OPEN SOMEONE'S THROAT QUIETLY. DO YOU THINK SHE'LL SCREAM WHEN SHE WAKES UP NEXT TO YOUR CORPSE? MAYBE I'LL WAIT AROUND TO FIND OUT. MAYBE I'LL JUST CUT HER OPEN INSTEAD. DON'T FORGET TO LOCK YOUR DOORS BITCH. I'LL BE WAITING._

"Police, please." Marcy mumbled into her mobile when the operator prompted her. She must have dialled the emergency services without even thinking about it. A second later the line connected.

"Police, what's your emergency?"

"Hi, um, my partner's being stalked and we just received a death threat in the post. Um, it was written in a sympathy card? Like, for when someone dies. They're threatening to kill us both, and I'm pregnant. I think we need someone out here, I think whoever it is might be watching the house."

Then Marcy burst into shocked tears and slid to the floor, pulling her knees up protectively around her bump. Half a minute later Bonnie was by her side, taking the phone out of her limp hand and confirming their address to the increasingly concerned emergency dispatcher. She pulled Marceline into a hug and took the card too, scanning it with a fierce frown and then discarding it in disgust when she was finished.

"We're gonna work this out, love. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you or the twins." Bonnie whispered as she hugged Marcy tighter. "We'll pack a bag and go somewhere until they catch this creep. It's gonna be ok."

"They've been watching us." Marceline murmured, still too far in shock to make much sense of it all.

"I know. But we'll go away somewhere. We can stay with your Dad, or with Simon and Betty. We'll stay away from home, we'll be careful. Ok? It's gonna be alright. Come on, love. I don't want you to get yourself upset."

That was where the police found them ten minutes later when they turned up, still sitting in their pyjamas on the kitchen floor. Bonnie looked up when the front door opened without the bell ringing; relieved beyond words to see Finn hurrying towards them with his burly partner Fionna in tow.

"What happened?" he asked in concern, crouching down to hug them both while his colleague carefully slid the card and envelope into an evidence bag. "We got the address over the radio, I was about to finish for the morning and head home. Is this your crazy ex again, Bon?"

"Madigan." Fionna warned in a low voice. "I know they're your friends but you're still on duty. No speculation."

He nodded apologetically before carefully helping first Marceline and then Bonnie off the floor.

"Come on, we'll go to the station and take a quick statement. You guys need somewhere safe to crash?"

"I was gonna call Daddy, thanks for the offer but your place is kinda small and we'll need to bring the cats." Marcy replied distantly.

She was shaking a little, delayed adrenaline making her feel like she was freezing cold despite her cosy pyjamas and the warmth in the house. There was still a thin line of stunned tears tracking down her cheeks; she hadn't been good at dealing with sudden bad news ever since her mother had left. And this whole stalker thing had come out of the blue. Marceline felt like they'd side stepped out of the real world and into some bad movie plot without any warning at all. Once Bonnie finished packing a couple of bags on autopilot and they'd been escorted into Finn's patrol car the shock and horror was starting to thaw into anger and things felt a lot more real. Bonnie was squeezing her partner's hand hard and still looked like she'd been bludgeoned in the side of the head; she hadn't even had chance to properly open her eyes before her girlfriend's sobs had pulled her out of bed. And Marceline was suddenly furious, angrier than she could ever remember being. How dare whoever it was threaten them like that and ruin their time off together? What kind of psychopath stalked someone and sent letters detailing how they'd murder them in their sleep? They better hope they were safely locked in a jail cell once the twins were born because Marceline would rip them to shreds if she got hold of them when she wasn't heavily pregnant. Nobody threatened Bonnie, not when there was still breath in her lungs.

It was just a little past eight when Finn gently guided them to the front desk of the police station and gave the duty officer their details before showing them into a waiting room while the detective on call got the case notes together and came down to interview them both. He excused himself with a tired hug, saying he'd call once he woke up again before his next nightshift. He left them both with a brief warning though.

"You guys can count on Fi, she's one of the best. But I can't investigate beyond your initial call out. When it goes to court the defence will pull apart anything I say because we've been friends so long. It's a conflict of interests. I'm here for you as a friend but Fionna's gonna have to handle the investigation, ok? I'll keep an eye on it for you but that's about all I can do. I'm sorry, guys. Call me if there's anything else I can do."

"We understand. Thanks, Finn." Bonnie told him softly as he took his leave and the door closed behind him, leaving the two women alone.

"You still think this is Shoko?" Marceline asked quietly.

"I... I don't know. I want to say yes? Because she's a known quantity, she's a self-interested bitch who's out for all she can get but at least I know her, I know how she operates. The person who wrote that letter used a racial slur against you, and Shoko's father is Japanese. She's really proud of her heritage. So I find it hard to imagine that she'd ever write that way about you or any person of colour, not after everything she went through being the only minority girl in an all-white school. Calling me a bitch and a whore is definitely something she'd do. But insulting your ethnicity? No, it's just not her style. I've been so fixated on the stalker being her and it all started when she turned up again so I thought it was pretty obvious. But what if it was a coincidence? What if it wasn't Shoko at all? And they said King had an alibi, so he's out of the picture. What if all this time it's been neither of them?"

"So then... who is it?"

"I don't know, love. I wish I did."

...

Of course Hunson fussed when they arrived at his door in a police car and of course Marcy snapped back angrily because she was stressed and scared and knew that it was safe to take it out on him. Her father simply folded her into a hug and didn't let go until she hugged him back.

"I made up the bed in the spare room, Pumpkin." he told her when she finally let go. "Oh, Bonnibel come here."

Next second Bonnie was enveloped in a worried hug too and patted her partner's father awkwardly on the back until he released her.

"Thanks, Hunson. Um, I don't know how long we'll be here and I, er, I don't know if we'll be home again before the babies arrive or-"

"Say no more, of course you are both welcome to stay with your new arrivals for as long as you need. We'll set up the guest room for them too and I can help look after them, I've not forgotten how to wipe a dirty little bottom." Hunson added with a wink for his daughter.

"Daddy, please. This is hard enough without you being... you. May I please just go for a lie down? My head's killing me." Marcy frowned at him.

Hunson motioned to the stairs and Marceline excused herself, leaving her father alone with a very uncomfortable Bonnie. Marcy didn't care too much though, she was tired and stressed and she hadn't been kidding about her headache.

Two hours later she was up again because the twins were writhing around so much that she couldn't sleep through it, not even with how tired she was. So Marcy made her slow way downstairs, still feeling lost and anxious and wishing she could wake up in her own bed and have the whole day be a bad dream. No doubt her swirling anxiety was affecting the babies and that was why they were so restless. Marceline paused by the lounge door to catch her breath after the effort of standing up and walking while the twins pummelled her internal organs, listening to the low voices of her partner and father in the next room.

"-this one was Marcy's first Halloween. She's only six months old in that picture, she didn't want to take the costume off." Hunson's voice was saying. Marceline rolled her eyes; of course her father had taken the opportunity to get out the embarrassing childhood photos.

"Oh, she's a little pumpkin! That's adorable. Is that why you call her Pumpkin?"

"I don't think she even knows, but yes. She got so much candy that year, we didn't know what to do with it all. Poor thing made herself sick with it."

"That sounds like Marcy. She's got such a sweet tooth."

"Liar, you're the one who stole the last of my birthday chocolate." Marceline murmured to herself quietly. But she was curious about what Bonnie and Hunson would say if they were alone together and she wasn't too keen to have to sit and talk to her father more, so instead of entering the room Marcy hovered outside the lounge door.

"And this is her first birthday. Oh, her mother made her a little cake, see?" Hunson added, a touch sadly.

"They look very alike."

"They are very alike. More and more I see her mother in Marceline, especially with the babies on the way. Is she moody all the time, forgetful and snapping at you for mentioning it?"

"Sometimes. But I've been working a lot, she's not had much chance." Bonnie replied diplomatically. Marceline scowled; she wasn't like that at all. Was she?

"If I had my time over again, as a young man and new father, I'd work less and spend more days at home with my family. I feel like I let her down. Let them both down. And I feel very much like you are in danger of making the same mistakes I did, Bonnibel. You're very focused on your job, and that's no bad thing. But now I'm old enough to have lost a good number of people and I can tell you from experience that nobody lays on their deathbed wishing they'd spent more quality time with their colleagues. I'm asking as a grandfather too, please be there for my grandchildren and my daughter."

Right, nope, that was way more than Marceline had wanted to hear. And probably way more than Bonnie needed Hunson to lecture her about too; Marcy took a couple of steps quietly up the staircase and came back down loudly, stepping more heavily than she needed to and coughing for good measure. Bonnie looked relieved when she entered the room and flung herself down between them on the sofa.

"Hey. So. What's the plan? Assuming we're stuck indoors all day?" Marcy asked brightly, looking between them and electing to ignore the stack of photo albums on the arm of the sofa next to her father.

"I might make some lunch, Pumpkin. And Theresa was going to come over this evening, I'll call and ask her to bring an extra pie." Hunson replied, getting up and making a hasty retreat to the kitchen.

"Did you hear-" Bonnie started quietly once Hunson was safely out of earshot.

"Yeah. Forget about it, it's not important." Marcy cut her off.

"I'm sorry."

"Nah, don't be. He thinks he's helping. Do my father a favour and spend some time with me before you die, right? Cause you needed to be told that."

They spent a dull afternoon alternating between watching crap on the TV and talking to the police on the phone, reconfirming details and going over some basic questions. Bonnie wouldn't be going back into work until the threat had passed and they'd been warned to stay indoors and avoid going to anywhere they usually frequented. So even going out to dinner at Treehouse was out of the question and Marceline had to suffer through TT's over-dramatic sympathy. In the end she went to bed early after a long shower but even in her dreams she was restless and anxious. Midnight found her awake again and unable to get back to sleep. So on silent feet Marceline slipped from the bedroom, careful not to disturb Bonnie, and made her way down to her father's lounge again. She took his high backed leather armchair and footstool, almost groaning at the relief it afforded the dull lower back pain that had been constant for the last couple of weeks.

The clock in the hall ticking loudly was the only sound in the house and eventually it chimed one with a little crystal bell; Marceline was still just sitting quietly and thinking about the twins, trying to imagine what they might look like as adults. Would the girl have her father's eyes like she did? Would the boy be confident like she'd been before she lost her Mum or shy and quiet? In the end Marcy took up a piece of note paper and a pen from the end table by the armchair because there was really only one person she'd found any peace sharing those kind of musings with and only then because they couldn't judge her. She'd written a few more letters since the first one and it was kinda therapeutic, in a way.

 _Dear Mum,_

 _So today something crazy happened and I'm still kinda shook up. This is not how I thought thirty four weeks pregnant would be._

...

"I have to get out for a bit, this is making me insane." Bonnie announced on the third afternoon. She'd paced the lounge, the conservatory and the kitchen, even risked a quick turn around the sheltered part of the garden away from the fence. But being stuck in such close quarters with Hunson and TT who refused to leave when there was drama going on was getting unbearable. As though an elderly hippie baker would be any use if an axe murderer broke in and attacked them in their sleep anyway.

"Oh but honey, it's not safe!" TT jumped in before Marcy could even open her mouth. "There's some crazed murderer out there who wants to make a skin suit out of you! And that nice police boy said you shouldn't go anywhere near your usual places, where are you even going to go?"

Theresa had talked about what a sweet boy Finn was non-stop since he'd delivered Marcy's car to them the morning before and stopped to give them a quick update. The card had been sent to the lab for processing and they'd managed to pull a partial thumbprint off the letterbox that didn't match Marcy, Bonnie or any of their regular mailmen. So far they hadn't had any luck running it through the police database because it was only the very edge of the thumb; it was difficult to match it to any one person and so far the potential matches ran to the hundreds of thousands. The technicians were trying to narrow it down to those living in the local area, those with any connection to Bonnie, Marcy, the hospital or the university and those known to have any previous violent crimes. But it was a slow process and still left a huge number of potential suspects. He'd also delivered Cinnamon and Peppermint, smooshed up together in the same carry crate and very pissed off. Hunson had dug out a couple of band aids for Finn's arms before he left and let the cats out into the garden to vent their anger on the local wildlife instead of Finn's skin. The last thing he said before he left was to reiterate that they stay indoors, stay safe and if they absolutely must go anywhere to stay away from their usual haunts.

"I was going to go to the gym for a bit, check out that women's only place Lydia was telling me about. It's on the other side of town from my regular gym, I've never been before and I'll be surrounded by people. Even Finn agreed it would be safe enough to go somewhere very public where I'd be surrounded by potential witnesses." Bonnie sighed. She'd already gotten her gym equipment and water bottle and was halfway towards the door before Marcy caught her arm.

"Please just stay safe, babe. I know you need to go run off your energy but I'm worried about you." she told the redhead in a quiet undertone while TT watched anxiously from the kitchen table.

"I'm only going to work out for a while, I'll be fine." Bonnie replied gently. "I appreciate your concern, love. I do. But this headcase has known where I've been for ages and so far all they've done is send threatening messages. I can't just stay indoors and off work forever while they're walking around free out there. I love you, I'll call when I'm on my way home."

She pressed a quick kiss to Marcy's lips and smiled reassuringly before grabbing the car keys and slipping out of the door. Marcy watched her go with a sigh, anxious but unable to find a flaw in Bonnie's logic.

"Come on Sunflower, dear, I'll put the kettle on and we'll worry together." TT announced. She was already up and pottering around making tea and fetching a plate of biscuits. The last couple of days' worth of experience taught had taught Marcy that the older woman would be completely deaf to argument when it came to taking a tea break.

"Your friend Finlay is very nice, for a police officer." Theresa opined a few minutes later around a mouthful of biscuit.

"It's just Finn, and yeah he's a real prince." Marcy agreed dully.

"Not at all what I'd expected from the police. He seems like someone who could deliver bad news well." the older woman continued.

"I suppose? He's a good guy but I've not seen much of him at work before now. Guess if anyone had to break the news of a death or something to me I'd want someone gentle and compassionate like Finn." Marcy shrugged. She couldn't quite find it in herself to care whether Finn was good at handling grieving family or not really, she was only replying out of politeness. But TT was easily capable of carrying on a conversation all by herself and continued speaking like she'd received enthusiastic encouragement.

"I've never forgotten what the officer said to me that night. 'Mrs Hogg', he said, you know that was my married name at the time, 'Mrs Hogg I'm afraid I need you to sit down.' So I sat there on our sofa, I remember I'd been doing the ironing and wondering what time Peter would call for me to pick him up. See he was usually very punctual, the staff at the day centre would dial the number because he couldn't ever remember it. And I'd been waiting for the phone to ring, it was later than usual. Then the police knocked on the door and I think I knew then that he was dead."

Marcy looked up slowly, horrified. Peter was _dead?_ And she'd never even asked, had laughed with Bonnie about TT's son and the dumb stories she told about him. What had the old lady said that one time? _'You just can't watch them every second of every day'_. Oh and she'd mentioned him having a diagnosis too, Marceline had always meant to ask more about that. Suddenly guilt was swirling through her guts along with the anxiety and worry. Theresa was staring at her teacup with a faraway look in her eyes.

"I'd told him so many times to be careful who he was friends with, that people could be cruel and might take advantage of him because he was such a nice boy. I never thought the other children at the respite centre would hurt him though."

"What happened?" Marcy asked quietly. For a moment she'd forgotten about her own problems and was sitting forward in her seat attentively.

"They said later on that it was all Peter's idea but I knew my sweet boy would never have suggested joyriding. He didn't even like being in the car with us, he got terribly travel sick. Well the police said that night that he and that girl he liked and some other boys from the centre got their hands on a stolen car. My Peter couldn't drive! And he wouldn't have known it was wrong, he didn't understand things like that. They jumped a red light and a police car chased them and they crashed. Peter was killed instantly. Oh and the girl, we didn't find out she was expecting until so much later! Only when her parents contacted to let us know the baby was healthy and an adoptive family had already been arranged. They knew I'd want to take the little girl myself if I could. She'll be about twenty now. My granddaughter. She was healthy they said, her brain seemed normal and she was developmentally fine. I think about her a lot, I wonder about her. Perhaps she wonders about me and who her father was and why she was adopted." TT finished with a wistful sigh.

Marcy reached out and took the older woman's hand, squeezing sympathetically.

"I had no idea, I'm so sorry." she said truthfully.

"Your father is one of the first people I spoke to about it. It's been twenty years and I never found someone who I felt comfortable opening up to." Theresa sniffled.

"He understands loss. Since Mum, you know."

"We go to a bereavement group together, did you know? Marceline, sweetie. Look at me."

She raised her head and reluctantly made eye contact with the older woman who was looking back at her with no trace of deceit or dishonesty in her gaze.

"I'm not trying to replace your mother. Not for you, not for your father. Not ever. From everything I've heard she was a wonderful woman and my only regret is that I'll never have chance to be her friend and tell her what an amazing person her daughter has grown into."

Marceline opened her mouth to reply but she hesitated, unsure what to say. And the next second her phone started ringing. She fished it out of her pocket hurriedly and frowned at the number she didn't recognise.

"Hello? No this is her partner, Dr Sugar's not available right now. No, she went to the gym. Uhh... I don't know, she said the ladies only one on the other side of town, I don't know what it's called. Is something wrong? Right. Ok. He... Fuck. Of course, I'll call her right away. Yeah, please do. She'll be driving a silver Volvo, one of the big ones. Um, I don't know. An X-something? Please let me know. Ok. Thanks."

"What's wrong? That was the police, wasn't it?" TT asked the moment Marceline put the phone down. Her face looked drained of colour, almost grey. Theresa had always had a weird sixth sense for when things were about to go wrong, she almost knew what Marcy would say before she opened her mouth.

"Dr King skipped bail. They went to ask him where he was the night that card was delivered and his apartment is empty, nobody's seen him in days. And Bonnie's out driving around somewhere with some psycho on the loose and it might be _him_ , TT he's already threatened her, what if he kills her, what if- _oh fuck no, argh no this isn't happening-"_

"What is it? The babies?"

The older woman was up and around the table in an instant, crouching by Marcy's side in concern as she curled around her bump and grimaced at the sudden tightening cramp.

"TT, call my father and tell him to get home as quick as he can. I think I just had a contraction." she gasped, terrified.

...

"Nother whiskey, mate."

"Nah, I'm cutting you off bro. Your card declined and you're way past the sorta hammered where I'd normally stop serving. Sorry, Julian. I know you're a regular but we gotta make a profit here. Go sleep it off and figure out what's going on with your bank, I thought you doctor types were loaded?" the barman asked with a shrug.

King's face crumpled in rage and he fumbled in his pocket, meaning to pull out the not totally legal folding knife he'd picked up at that dodgy Army surplus place in the bad end of town. But the effects of his three-day bender were more than enough to make the world tilt at the sudden movement and next thing he knew King was sprawled on the sticky floor of the bar. The doorman hauled him upright and half carried him to the exit, shoving him out into unexpected sunlight. What time was it even? King hadn't been home, he had no idea what day it was or how much money he'd spent on alcohol since he'd decided to start drowning his sorrows and just not stop. No job to go to anymore so nothing to stop him drinking and gambling for as long as his money held out, which had apparently been several whiskeys ago. He stumbled off down the street muttering to himself angrily, bouncing off the side of buildings and growling at the odd passer-by who stopped to stare at him. He ran a hand over his face and was surprised by how rough his chin felt; had it really been that long since he'd shaved? The next building along the street had mirrored windows and King stumbled up to it, staring at his reflection. God, he looked rough. When had he last eaten?

And then his eyes slid out of focus a little and stared through the mirroring on the window. It was the cheap plastic kind that was easier to look through close up and someone had just switched an extra couple of lights on. He could just about see people moving around, limbs churning rhythmically on rows of machinery. And all of them were women; when he looked closer it was a women-only gym. One woman in particular caught his attention, jumping down from a treadmill and moving closer to the window to refill her water bottle from the drinking fountain next to where he peered in at her. She hadn't seen him, nobody paid attention to someone who looked like a tramp staring into the corners anyway. And that particular face had his blood boiling in abrupt fury.

"Just you wait, bitch. Y'think I forgot? You're _dead_." King mumbled to himself before he backed away from the window and ducked around the corner of the building.

Sugar hadn't seen him, she had no idea he was there. Was it one of her regular haunts? King hadn't seen her around that end of town before but he knew her stupid fat secretary sometimes wandered along that street with her big ass squeezed into lycra jogging gear. Perhaps, his lip curled at the thought, it was a _dyke_ gym. But that wasn't right, was it? Lydia was a whore who would bend over for any guy who smiled at her. Not for King though, no matter how many times he'd been nice to her. He'd show her, he'd show them all. And now Sugar was within his reach, unsuspecting and probably stupidly exhausted from straining her skinny little legs like she was so great and so much better than him just because she worked out and had a beautiful queer girlfriend and a fancy office and probably didn't owe scary amounts of money to shady loan companies because of gambling debts. Fucking _Sugar,_ she made him blind with rage just by existing! King snarled quietly to himself as he slipped between the parked cars behind the gym. It was beginning to get dark; so much the better for him if she never saw him coming. He wondered if she'd liked the card he'd sent, wondered if she screamed and cried like a little girl the way she had in his imagination.

King entertained himself for a while longer imagining all the ways he'd make that undeserving bitch Sugar scream when he got hold of her. The sun set fully while he waited and a couple of orange street lights flickered to life, although they were dim and the one nearest the door was broken so he was mostly hidden in shadow. The gods must approve, King nodded to himself. It made sense. Hadn't his mother always told him he was a special boy? Definitely more special than some jumped-up dyke bitch. But where the hell was she? He was starting to get restless and cold and the river of beer and whiskey he'd spent the last three days soaking in was making him desperate for a piss. But just when he was thinking of relieving himself behind the parked cars the door of the gym opened and there she was, hair damp from the showers and back in her regular clothes, completely unaware he was staring at her while she frowned down at the screen of a phone in her hand. Next second she held it up to her ear and was rooting around in her bag for what he assumed were car keys although he didn't see her ridiculous vanity race car anywhere around.

"Marcy? I'm on my way now, sweetie. I guess your phone is off in the hospital but I'll be there as soon as I can, just hang on, love. Stay safe. I'll be, like, twenty minutes at most. I'm sorry I didn't get your message sooner, my phone was in my bag. Hold on, love, don't you go giving birth without me there. I'm on my way."

She strode towards a large silver car and pressed the remote to unlock it, it would have to be now or he'd miss his chance! Goddammit, King hadn't wanted to rush it but he was going to jail anyway, right? Might as well get his revenge while he could. He scooped the knife out of his pocket and fixed the blade into position with a soft _click_!

"Bet you think you're so fucking magic, don't you, Sugar?" King snarled as he stumbled forward into the halo of weak lamp light. "Gettin' me fired an' stealing my job. Gonna gut you like a fucking _deer_ , you little whore."

"King." she breathed as she whipped around to face him. It was so gratifying to see the terror that rolled across her expression when her gaze landed on the knife in his hand. He grinned lopsidedly and held it out for her to examine a little better; a serrated five inch long hunting knife, designed for skinning and slicing effortlessly through tough hide and muscle. It would make short work of a skinny little queer like Sugar.

"D'you like the card I sent? Fucking _bitch_. Did you scream? Cry? Y'ever been stabbed before, Sugar?" King slurred.

He took a stumbling step towards her and she backed up until her legs hit the side of her car. Eyes wide and terrified, hair escaping her hasty ponytail in long soft red wisps she was almost pretty and he hated himself deeply for thinking it, hated her even more. Sugar was every woman who'd ever spurned him. She was every girl who'd thrown a drink in his face just for giving her a compliment, she was every smug bitch who'd scored more highly than him on an exam or begged their lab supervisor to assign them a less creepy assignment partner at uni. King of the Creeps, they'd called him. He could almost hear Sugar sneer it in her grating voice if he tried, almost see her worthless face plastered over all the memory girls when they told him they'd rather French kiss a skunk than accept a drink from him.

"Julian, I'm gonna give you a chance to think about this and put that knife down before someone gets hurt." Sugar stuttered out nervously. God, she sounded like she was about to piss herself in fear and the surge of pure power that sent through him was the best feeling he'd had in months. He laughed, a low gravelly chuckle that forced itself up from his stomach and spilled unstoppably out of his mouth. The bitch was almost paralysed with fear and he was going to enjoy making her scream _so much_. Next second he'd lunged forwards, aiming the wicked tip of his blade for Sugar's heart.

He didn't know how it happened but much later he supposed it was a good thing he was still so drunk, it numbed some of the pain. Sugar almost blurred with speed and out of nowhere her fist was smashing into his nose and sending him flying. The knife connected, briefly, with the soft flesh of her arm before it was elbowed from his hand and he staggered back with a roar of rage.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU-"

The words never completely made it out of his mouth before her foot was sailing through the air with all of her strength and bodyweight behind it. The blow landed with a sickening crunch between his legs, so hard that he crumpled into a boneless pile of agonised moaning. The pain was like nothing he'd ever felt. It was like the very centre of him was being slowly impaled on a thousand white hot knives. The last thing King heard before the agony and alcohol pulled him down into merciful unconsciousness was Sugar's voice back on her phone.

"Hello? Yeah, I need an ambulance to the back of the Lifestyle Gym on Baker Street. A guy just attacked me and I, uh, I think I knocked him out. Yeah, he's still breathing. He's lying on his side pissing himself but he's breathing..."

...

The ride to the hospital was the longest journey of Bonnie's life. She brushed off the medical tech who tried to assess the shallow cut on her forearm; it wasn't deep and it wasn't even really bleeding by the time the ambulance pulled up. King was just regaining consciousness as they loaded him into the back of the vehicle and his whimpers of pain almost drowned out the voice of the ambulance driver radioing ahead to get a surgical team on standby. But before the sympathetic police officer closed the patrol car door and pulled away with them both Bonnie was certain she heard the words 'testicular rupture'. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off and she was shaking lightly, trying hard not to slide too far into shock.

"I, uh, I think I kicked him so hard his balls burst." she muttered distantly as the officer drove.

"Can't say I blame you, Dr Sugar. Hey, your arm's bleeding. Do you want to go straight to A&E?"

"No, no I need to go to the maternity suite."

"Is your partner in labour? Congratulations, doctor."

"I think so. She left a message saying her father was taking her to hospital, she was having contractions. We're having twins. I... this doesn't feel really real."

"I know, I was there at the callout when he sent you that letter. I'm Madigan's partner, Fionna Mertens. Remember me? Finn's off tonight so I'm riding solo."

Bonnie peered closer at the police officer, nodding in recognition.

"Yeah. Fionna. Sorry, I- uh, I don't feel so great..."

"Are you sure you don't wanna get checked over at the accident and emergency department first? You look sorta... grey."

"I'm fine, I'll be fine. Just, take me to the maternity ward please."

They drove in silence while Bonnie tried to keep down the rising tide of nausea that wanted to shove its way up her throat. King had tried to stab her, King had been the one who'd been threatening them and she'd kicked him hard enough that he was going to need emergency surgery. She hadn't meant to hurt him that badly, she only wanted to incapacitate him before anyone did anything stupid. And the gym had cameras recording the parking area, the whole thing had been caught on tape and handed over to the police. All the while the only other coherent thoughts swirling though her mind were about Marceline and the babies, _gotta get to the hospital, she needs me..._

They pulled up at the hospital a few minutes later and Bonnie was throwing the door of the police car open before the vehicle had fully stopped.

"Thanks for the ride, say hi to Finn!" she yelled over her shoulder as she stumbled forwards to the main entrance.

Next second strong hands had seized her to keep her from falling over her own feet and Bonnie flailed against them, irrationally terrified in case it was somehow King. But it was Hunson's voice that addressed her and she stilled, looking up into his eyes.

"Bonnibel? Christ, what happened to you? You're covered in blood." the older man frowned.

"King. Assaulted me, cut me, I kicked him and he got taken away in an ambulance. Where's Marcy and the babies?" she gabbled, straining to see over his shoulder.

"She's being discharged, the babies are right where you left them. Please try to stay calm. They said it was just Braxton Hicks contractions because of the stress. They're just practice contractions, she was never really in labour, it was a false alarm-"

"I know what Braxton Hicks contractions are." Bonnie snapped, suddenly way beyond being able to deal with Marceline's father mansplaining basic medicine to her. "I just need to see Marcy, I need to check she's ok, I- Marcy!"

She was around Hunson and crouching by the wheelchair TT was pushing out of the main doors in an instant.

"Baby, I'm so sorry! It was King, he was at the gym and he had a knife, he was gonna stab me and, and I dunno how he found me, and... and..."

"Shhh, it's ok, babe." Marceline soothed as Bonnie began to cry softly. She shifted forward and wrapped her arms firmly around the shaking redhead, trying to bring them as close as physically possible. "Come on, we'll go home and you can tell me all about it. We'll cuddle and have a bath and you can read to the bump. Ok?"

"Kay." Bonnie replied, ashamed that Hunson and TT had seen her crying.

They went back to Hunson's place, packed up their things and collected the cats before Marceline thanked her father for them both and he gave them a lift home since their car was still at the crime scene behind the gym. Bonnie stayed silent the whole time, making sure she always had at least a little skin contact with her partner even if it was just lacing their fingers together. Once they were finally home Marcy ran a bubblebath for them both and carefully helped Bonnie undress, letting her lower herself into the water first before slipping behind her and gently soaping her back. The redhead still felt tense, muscles hard and knotted under her skin. Marceline just focussed on rubbing out some of the tension and let Bonnie be quiet if that was what she needed.

"I nearly died tonight." she finally sighed into the steamy silence of their bathroom.

"But you didn't. You fought him off and you even called him an ambulance." Marcy soothed. "You're a better person than King without even trying. You at your worst is still a thousand times better than him at his best."

"I thought about taking the knife and stabbing him, you know. I thought, wouldn't it be justified after everything he's done? And then I thought about you having to explain to the kids why their Mama was in jail for killing a man. I thought about my Hippocratic Oath and the guy I treated for a broken jaw when I was a junior." the redhead continued quietly.

"You never told me about him."

"It was late, I'd been dealing with the usual Saturday night drunks for hours. It was when you were away on the continent with the orchestra. And this guy came in, bleeding and beaten up, I was doing a rotation with x-ray and ortho. We ended up having to wire his jaw and the police who came in with him told us how it happened. He'd been beating his kid, apparently he did it a lot. And his wife just snapped. Hit him in the side of the face with one of his own workboots and snapped his jawbone pretty well. And he was so polite, asked if I'd had a busy night once the painkillers kicked in. He apologised for putting us to all that trouble, said he hoped we got some rest and thanked us so many times for being gentle fixing his fracture. How can people be like that? So nice and such awful bastards at the same time? And did I want to be like that too? I didn't want to be someone who'd stab an unconscious man out of spite and then go home to read to my kids. Look, I know I'm not always... I'm not Neddy, you know? I can function in the world, I know how to be around other people. But I'm not the best at reading them. And I guess I'm not the best at reading myself, either. And I don't know if I'd be like him, if I'd hurt someone because I thought they deserved it and I had nothing holding me back. Marcy, do you think I'm a good person?"

Marceline's hands stilled for a moment and she gently tugged her partner backwards until she was wrapped in a warm hug. For a long time she simply held the redhead, taking the opportunity to really appreciate the sensation of soft damp skin against her own and the reassuring thrum of a strong heartbeat where her hands pressed against the other woman's chest. Bonnie might have died that night. But she didn't, she was warm and safe and alive, right there in her partner's arms where she belonged. She defended herself, she saved lives on a daily basis and she'd even been a good Samaritan to the man who'd tried to murder her. And now she was asking if Marcy thought she was a good person? It wasn't often the redhead let her guard down and showed her insecurities, even with her girlfriend.

"You are literally the best person I've ever met, Bon. Do you know what? I'm so lucky that you love me back. Because if I had to spend the rest of my life loving you from a distance while you just wanted to be friends or something I would, because how could I love anyone else when I knew you existed? I'd spend forever just being there, being your friend and silently loving you with all my heart and you'd never know because I wouldn't want to make it weird for you if you didn't feel the same. And that's sad but that's how it is. Because you are the best person I've ever met. So yeah, I think you're a good person. I think you're the _best_ person. Far better than me. I'd have stabbed him to pieces."

That surprised a snort out of the redhead and she looked up, meeting smiling eyes.

"You're such a badass." Bonnie replied with a small smile.

"Nope, you're the badass in this relationship. Like, way more badass than me. Besides, you don't need to worry that you're a bad person just because you realised you had the potential to do a bad thing. The point is you chose not to. It is our choices, Bonnibel, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

The redhead looked up, quirking a sceptical eyebrow at her girlfriend who smiled back innocently.

"That's a Dumbledore quote." Bonnie accused after a second, remembering where she'd heard those words before.

"And? It's still true. He was really wise, you can do a lot worse than following Dumbledore's advice y'know. Hey, so do you think you can show me how to kickbox once I'm recovered from having the babies?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes and let it go, far too used to Marceline randomly slipping in geek references when she thought her girlfriend wouldn't notice.

"Absolutely, we can leave them with your father for one night a week and go to classes together."

"Wicked. So, tell me about testicular rupture. Is it as horribly painful as it sounds?"

Bonnie couldn't say in all truth that she felt completely back to normal by the time they went to bed. But she did feel like she was going to be ok, eventually. She slipped her arms around Marcy and held her close, silently vowing to herself to be the kind of good person that her girlfriend believed she was.


	35. Week 35

**So let me preface this by warning you that this chapter is double length, literally because it needed to be and because I'm sorry I didn't post sooner. I've got a few oneshots and stuff in the works and I've been pretty busy so I haven't done much work on the next chapter yet. But it's gonna be good, I hope. We're getting so close to the end guys!**

 **So a quick real world update, I'm going to meet my gorgeous new goddaughter Phoebe next week! She's about a month old and apparently doing really well, I can't wait to give her cuddles. So yes, she beat my fictional twins into the world. But I don't even mind, I'm just glad she's here and doing well.**

 **Content Warning: drama, feels, much singing, drag, not completely SFW references you might want to use discretion before googling, unashamed Community references, really dangerous drinking games, abuse of toothbrushes, revelations. It's a long chapter.**

* * *

Bonnie fiddled with her bag, fiddled with the bunch of tulips she'd picked up on the way and stared down the street at the passing afternoon traffic while biting the skin on the edge of her lip until it hurt then cursed herself quietly for being such a coward. The door stared back at her, impassive. Eventually its silent accusation was too much to bear and without stopping to think better of it she raised a hand and rapped her knuckles against the white wood. The shock of pain that ran up her arm from the bruising King's face had left was distracting enough that she could almost use it to blot out the voice of common sense in the back of her brain screaming that she was doing something monumentally stupid. Dammit, she was shaking. She tried to blame the reminder that a week ago a man that she'd trusted as a colleague no matter how unpleasant he'd been had tried to murder her but Bonnie couldn't lie to herself for long. There was way more to it than that. She almost swallowed her own tongue in surprise when the door was sudden wrenched open and she was looking up into a face she'd sincerely never wanted to see again. Her breath hitched and the words she'd practiced on the drive over died in her throat.

"Well, this is a surprise. I didn't know what to expect when you got in touch and asked to meet. So you're here to apologise, huh?" Shoko asked with eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Yeah. Uh... listen, I was wrong to get you arrested... and, uh-" Bonnie stuttered.

"Save it, Princess. Come inside before you freeze to death, you're shivering."

Shoko disappeared back up the staircase behind the door and Bonnie was left with no option but to follow; she'd been planning on simply delivering her well-rehearsed apology on the doorstep, handing over the flowers and taking her leave. But of course Sho was going off script. Damn her.

The apartment at the top of the steep staircase was small but well organised; Bonnie grudgingly admitted to herself that her ex had made excellent use of the compact space. The first thing she saw when she walked into the immaculate lounge was a full height bookcase groaning under the weight of an impressive personal library shelved neatly in size order. Bonnie couldn't quite keep the smile from creeping onto her face when she noticed a well-thumbed copy of Pride and Prejudice sticking out crookedly from the shelf. It looked very much like it had been hastily shoved back into its place when she'd knocked. The redhead suffered a brief and vivid flashback to carefully wrapping that very book in her dorm room the night before Shoko's birthday. On the inside cover in her own neat loopy writing Bonnie knew she'd find the words ' _To Shoko, I dare you not to fall in love with Mr Darcy at least a little bit! All my love, Bonnie x'_. It was a bittersweet feeling, she still wanted to hate Shoko for their awful break up and the first real heartbreak Bonnie had ever experienced but on the other hand it was surprising and strangely moving to know that the other woman had kept Bonnie's favourite novel all those years, that she still read it and obviously treasured it. And she'd been so wrong about Shoko, perhaps she had genuinely held onto feelings for more than a decade and did want to apologise too? It wasn't like Bonnie had been getting much right recently anyway, there was a good chance she'd misread the situation last time.

"Sit down, I'll put the kettle on. I wasn't really sure you'd show so you'll have to excuse the mess." Shoko sighed over her shoulder and she made her way into the kitchen.

Bonnie sat cautiously, feeling very wrong-footed and out of place on her ex-girlfriend's sofa. The fact that she hadn't been one hundred per cent honest with Marceline about where she was going or why weighed heavily in her mind too but the redhead had genuinely just not wanted to worry her partner. Not after everything that had happened with King. And Bonnie had made a promise to herself to try to be a better person, and that meant making amends for things she'd done wrong no matter that she really didn't like the idea of it at all. So she'd made an excuse about going and handling the weekly grocery shopping alone while Marcy took a nap and tried to will herself not to go into labour before Jake's stag party the next evening. Maybe part of her had wanted Marcy to question her about it, wanted to come clean. But her partner had just shrugged and agreed, in a foul mood and too exhausted from the twins keeping her awake all night using her bladder as a trampoline. Bonnie hadn't had another opportunity to talk about it more because Marceline was rattling off a list of stuff they needed and berating her for buying the wrong brand of yogurt last time. It had been a relief to escape to the supermarket. And then she'd gotten the tulips on a whim because Bonnie wanted to do it properly and if she was being completely and totally honest she was delaying going to Shoko's place despite her own resolve to get the apology out of the way. As long as she was staring at the racks of flowers trying to decide between pale pink carnations and a rainbow bouquet of tulips then she was still just full of good intentions and not making herself vulnerable to Shoko ripping holes in her fragile emotional health or worse. But now she had no more excuses and she couldn't stall any longer. Shoko was sitting next to her on the sofa and pushing a mug of chamomile tea at her with her good arm and staring at her like she expected Bonnie to break into song any moment. The redhead gave the flower stems one last nervous squeeze before she held them out.

"I'm sorry I had you arrested. I know now that it wasn't you. And, um... yeah. I'm sorry. So, like, I wanted to come and explain." she started nervously.

"I'm listening." Shoko said quietly. "Go ahead. Explain."

"So. Things started going weird at work after you visited me and I realise now that things had probably been weird at work a long time before then but I'd been so busy I didn't notice. When I took over the department there was me and another consultant in the running, Dr King, and it turns out he's a pathological misogynist with serious drinking and gambling problems. I got the job, he got made consultant and clinical lead on the ward. I guess that wasn't enough from him. When they arrested him he confessed to being intensely jealous and that's when he started running a scam on parents of patients in the hospital. He's not even trying to pretend he didn't do it anymore. King would assess them carefully and pick out the people he thought were most vulnerable then hit them with bills for private treatments that didn't exist. It was all quite high tech, he had a professional website for his fake medical research company any everything so the parents could read up on his lies."

"Wait, that bastard stole money from the families of cancer kids? Bon, that's _sick_." Shoko interjected with a heavy frown.

"I know. And that's not all. I only found out because he called in hungover and I had to field a meeting with one of the families for him. They were begging for more time to get the money together, it was awful. We had the hospital fraud team investigate, he's stolen and gambled away more than a hundred thousand pounds. Families put themselves in debt to pay him, kids died because their parents refused further treatment based on his fake therapies. So I got him fired and arrested. The police let him go on bail because he was assessed as not violent and not a threat no that he wasn't in a position of authority anymore. Thinking about it that was kinda short sighted of them, they owe me an apology. And stuff started going weird at home. At Marcy's baby shower someone vandalised my car and I'm so sorry, Sho, I thought it was you. So you got arrested right along with King. They said he had an alibi but that turned out to be fake when they interrogated him again last week. Said he was drinking with a friend, but the guy he was supposed to be with had passed out from alcohol way earlier in the night so he had no idea if King was still at his place later that night or not. Nasty anonymous emails started turning up and then a death threat in the post. It all got out of hand."

"Classic escalation behaviour. I guess they caught him before he committed murder?" Sho asked.

"Yeah. He's not getting bail this time. But they only caught him because he got absolutely hammered and tried to stab me to death outside of the gym. Guess he figured he had nothing left to lose." Bonnie nodded. Shoko sucked in a breath, then she flashed that same ancient serpentine smile that had made Bonnie's knees go weak once upon a time.

"And yet here you are, looking possibly even more alive than ever. So I take it you fucked him up bad, Princess?"

"Testicular rupture. I don't know what happened, I suppose it was adrenaline. I just lost it completely. I wasn't even that scared, it was only afterwards that it really sank in that he'd intended to kill me, you know? One second he was coming towards me with the knife and the next he was on the floor holding his balls and screaming like a banshee. I kicked him harder than I've ever kicked anything, I was wearing heeled ankle boots and apparently they messed him up badly enough to need a full surgical trauma team. When he came around from emergency surgery it was to find he was strapped to the bed and a police officer was sitting next to him waiting to read him his rights."

Shoko burst out laughing and it struck Bonnie that she hadn't heard that sound in so long, over a decade. It was... she didn't completely know how to feel about that. Perhaps a little nostalgic? That same laugh was one she'd associated with goods things a lifetime ago and now it was almost unfamiliar, almost like it belonged to a stranger. It wasn't a feeling Bonnie was completely sure she was comfortable with.

"When are they gonna learn not to mess with a kickboxer? Oh man, I'd have paid good money to see that! You are still the baddest of badasses." Shoko chortled around her own mug of tea. Bonnie frowned.

"So the fact that I got stabbed and was nearly murdered and came to apologise for having you wrongly arrested is less important to you than hearing about a man with obvious mental health problems getting kicked in the nuts?"

"Relax, Princess. I'm still terribly concerned that he tried to off you. So wait, that fucker actually managed to get his blade into you? Fuck, you must be slowing down in your old age."

"Only just. He scraped my arm a little while I was breaking his nose, I'll have a shallow scar for a while but no major damage done."

"Battle scars. Nice. But I know you, Bonnibel Sugar. I know how competitive you are. You only let him mark you so you'd have something to compare, hm?"

Shoko lifted her own stump and made a show of looking over the scars twisting along her bronze skin before tutting at the much smaller dressing still covering Bonnie's injury. This time it was the redhead's turn to smile, a little reluctantly because she was still unsure of herself around her ex but all the same glad Sho was making light of the situation. Marcy was still treading on egg shells around her, using her 'gentle voice' whenever anything to do with King came up and point blank refusing to accept that her partner was perfectly fine, didn't need to talk it out or go over the details any more than they had that night in the bath. Once Bonnie was over her initial shock she was ashamed of how far her guard had slipped that night, even with her own girlfriend. So instead she just carried on like nothing had happened, she'd been back at work the next afternoon because being stuck in the house with Marceline creeping around on tiptoes and whispering reassuringly to her was more than she could deal with. It was hard enough to process what had happened without having to deal with other people's sympathy, although Bonnie was acutely aware that while she thought of it as staying strong Marcy would call it bottling up.

"Listen, I did some thinking of my own," Shoko continued, "and you were totally right to tell me to fuck off that day in the hospital. I'm sorry. Really, sincerely this time. I was going through some stuff, I was just back in England and I was still fucked up about my arm, I don't know what I was even trying to accomplish. I just, fuck, it's still hard to say. But you're better than me. I'm jealous of you, your perfect girlfriend and your amazing career and your incredible life. What do I have? I'm broken and pathetic. I can't even get a job as a doctor anymore, you know I had to take a teaching position at the university here? It's degrading."

"My partner is a lecturer." Bonnie interjected.

"Good for her. But I had a plan, I was going to fix _everything_. And now look at me. I'm useless."

"Don't say that, you're not useless. You have a ton of valuable real life experience, I bet those medical students would give anything for more lecturers like you." Bonnie told her encouragingly. "And besides, I might look like my life is good on the outside but you can't really judge until you've lived it."

Deep russet eyes locked onto her own and for a long moment Shoko just regarded her thoughtfully. Then she smiled again and nodded.

"Yeah, I get it. Make me feel better by telling me you have your problems too, blah blah. Nah, I've seen you two together. I'm happy for you, Princess. Really. She seems very... well, you're just lucky you saw her first. You're totally different with her than when it was you and me. Look at you holding her hand in public, you even let her kiss you where people can see. She must be pretty special to help you past you terror of 'making a scene', I remember when you were too embarrassed to be seen eating lunch with me in case people gossiped. So yeah, I can totally get that your girlfriend must be something more amazing than I ever was. I mean, I can't imagine finding a woman who'd be loving and supportive enough to give her blessing to me bringing beautiful flowers to my ex out of the blue like this." Shoko added slyly. Bonnie felt like a block of ice had unexpectedly slid into her stomach and it must have shown on her face. Sho's eyes narrowed a little again, this time triumphantly.

"Oh, my bad. I didn't realise you hadn't told her. That's... wow, Bonnibel. You're such a _rebel_." Sho continued softly.

"Only because she was sulking today. Apparently I buy substandard yogurt." Bonnie muttered, ashamed. She really needed her ex pointing out how underhand it was for her to be there without Marceline knowing? As if she didn't already feel bad enough about it.

"You guys are arguing about yogurt? Of course you are. That smells offensively domesticated, someone could even make a case that you were under her thumb. Never figured you for the whipped housewife type, I thought you had more spirit than that? But I suppose she must be able to give you something absolutely mind-blowing in the bedroom, yeah? To tame you down from a tigress into a kitten?"

Bonnie didn't know what to say, she'd put herself back in a situation where Shoko's barbed words could cut her yet again and this time there was nobody but herself to blame. Just like when she'd been an undergrad, somehow Shoko always managed to worm back into her head. Bonnie shifted uncomfortably, trying to cover her awkwardness with a swig of tea. It was especially galling that the other woman had struck a nerve by bringing up their current lack of intimate activity; something Shoko must be making an educated guess at because there was no way she could tell how frustrated Bonnie was just by looking at her, right?

"She's almost full term with twins. It's normal that recently we've not had a lot of, well, you know." the redhead eventually muttered in her defence when all Shoko did was continue to smile at her enigmatically and sip her own drink.

"Normal but pretty frustrating for you, right? Strange. I seem to remember you had quite the insatiable appetite back in the day. Any time, any place, I used to wonder where the hell you got your energy from. Weird that you've changed so much. After all, her hands aren't pregnant, are they?"

"I don't think I like what you're implying."

"Just that you're a fierce, gorgeous, force of nature. How long has it been since someone made you feel really wanted? It's a _crime_ for a woman like you to go unappreciated, Bonnibel. You're a goddess and you deserve to be worshiped like one. Don't you? You deserve someone who can make you feel _really_ good." Shoko murmured softly. And oh hell, she'd rested her hand on Bonnie's knee and was leaning forward to close the distance between their faces and the redhead was paralysed with numb indecision because it _had_ been a very long time she was struggling to form a coherent thought around her shock-

Warm and unpleasantly familiar lips brushed softly against her own and Bonnie made her choice without any further hesitation. She leaped up from the sofa and backed away towards the door, disgusted with herself for even _thinking_ it. Shoko watched her go with an expression of infinite patience.

"Look, whatever you thought this was you're wrong. Ok? I just came to apologise and I realise now what a mistake it was. I'm sorry you got arrested and I'm sorry I came here. But you and me, no, we're done. We were done a very long time ago. And I'm not about to cheat on my heavily pregnant girlfriend with you or anyone else. I love her." Bonnie stuttered in a rush.

"Cute. Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" Shoko purred standing up and moving towards her with seductive grace.

"You. Because apparently you don't understand that _I am finished with you_. Goodbye, sorry for the wrongful arrest, have a nice life."

"You still want me. I can see it in your eyes. You want this just as badly as I do. Give in, Princess. There's no harm in admitting you're human and you crave pleasure like everyone else. And I'm more than willing to give you that, no strings attached."

"So? I want a lot of things. I'm still not doing this. Not to sweet, wonderful Marcy, not when I have something so much better than you in every possible way waiting for me. I'm not who you think I am, I'm not the sort of person who'd cheat. Stop assuming everyone is just like you. Goodbye, Shoko."

"You'll be back! And I'll be waiting! Because sooner or later you're gonna realise what you're missing. Don't forget I'm always here!" Shoko called as her ex fled down the stairs at a run, slamming the apartment door behind herself as she left.

"Please don't forget." Shoko murmured to the lonely silence that descended on her once again. She sighed and went across to the bookcase, picking up the old gifted novel she'd deliberately left conspicuously out of place on the bookcase and reshelving it neatly. Bonnie would be back, she was certain of it. Just like they were two characters in a story.

...

"... _bah bah baaahhh, body of a Venus,_

 _Lord, imagine my surpri-i-i-se_

 _Yeah, yeah_

 _Dude looks like a lady!_

 _Dude looks like a lady!_

 _Dah, dah, dude looks like a lady!"_

Bonnie gritted her teeth and tried her level best to ignore the singing and humming floating over the background splashing of the shower in the next room. She was still on edge and really not in any mood to party with Jake but it was his stag night and probably the only one he'd ever have, she couldn't miss it. And Marceline's infantile choice of 'hilarious' wedding music was getting on her nerves.

"WOULD YOU BLOODY SHUT UP!" Bonnie yelled when the singing just continued, segueing into a few other songs and some indecipherable improvised wailing.

"WHAT?" Marcy yelled back over the noise of the shower.

"I SAID WOULD YOU- NEVER MIND!" Bonnie replied as loudly as possible. She shook her head and resolved to just let it go, she was being a total bitch and she knew it. Let Marcy sing what she wanted at her best friend's wedding, Lady would forgive her and Jake would be paralytic with laughter. The redhead sighed to herself and turned back to her make up mirror, examining her reflection and frowning at the face staring back at her.

When had those tense lines faintly visible on her forehead become permanent and not just something that indicated lack of sleep or extreme stress? Had she looked that frazzled and uptight for long or was it a symptom of everything that had happened recently? There were exhausted rings under her eyes and Bonnie was certain that she'd lost some fullness in her cheeks if she thought back to how she'd looked before all this stalker business had started. Well, no more. It was over now; she could get back to normal. She grabbed her make up bag and began arranging the liquids and powders on her dresser in the order she was going to use them in. Bonnie was going to erase every trace of stress from her face or die trying, no way she'd let something as stupid as her near-murder and awkward failed seduction ruin Jake's night.

"Hello beautiful, someone scrubs up well." Marcy announced from where she was sprawling on the bed in a towel a little while later. "Going for the pin-up girl thing, are we? Suits you."

"I thought I'd wear that cute fifties style red dress and the matching heels." the redhead replied neutrally. Bonnie had put her hair up in carefully coiffed pin rolls and was wearing much bolder make up than usual, she was almost feeling confident again.

"Don't overdress, you'll make me look like a total scrub. I was going with maternity leggings and the least kaftany of the kaftans I still fit. And I don't think Finn would swap out of that same pair of ragged jeans even in the event of nuclear war."

"You're so pregnant you can barely walk, you have an excuse. And Finn is just gross."

"He is though. I bleached his sink when I stayed over with him and there was _something_ growing on the wash cloth in his bathroom so I made him throw it out. The sooner Phoebe moves in and civilises him the better." Marcy nodded. She heaved herself up from the bed and across to her wardrobe, pulling out a tent-like embroidered black kaftan with a wince of distaste.

"It's not that bad, love. And weirdly you kinda pull it off." Bonnie murmured reassuringly.

"I miss wearing my comfy Nirvana hoodie. I miss seafood and runny egg yolks and blue cheese and alcohol. I miss not being pregnant in general." Marceline sighed back. She rubbed her enormous bump soothingly and added, "Not that I'd swap you two for anything. But you really restrict my diet, personal grooming habits and mobility. I haven't seen my feet in months and I honestly don't want to know what my legs look like right now. And damn, I miss drinking coffee so much I could cry."

"It won't be long now. You know most twins deliver at thirty seven weeks so you're getting really close now."

"Knowing my luck I'll be two weeks overdue and have to be induced and you'll have to sit me in one of those extra huge fat people wheelchairs to get me into the hospital." Marcy sulked as she rooted around for the hair dryer.

"And then you wonder why Finn calls you Marceline the Drama Queen. Sweetie, they can't stay in there forever, and trust me when you're actually in the process of giving birth you won't care about how you got to the hospital. The time's gonna fly by." Bonnie replied. She stood and came around the bed to her partner, slipping a comforting arm around Marceline's waist and hugging her carefully without getting damp hair on her freshly made up face.

"I, uh... yeah, I guess I'm pretty anxious about the delivery if I'm honest." Marcy sighed, leaning back into the hug. "I mean, I want a natural birth right? And yeah, I _do_ , but at the same time you know I'm a total wuss about pain. What if I can't handle it?"

"You're also the most stubborn person I ever met. All I have to do is tell you that you can back down any time you feel like it and I know you'll push through the pain just to prove me wrong." Bonnie replied quietly.

"Manipulative bitch." Marcy smiled. She turned and pressed a very careful kiss against her girlfriend's lips, wary of messing up the redhead's immaculate lipstick.

"But you wouldn't want me any other way, right?"

"Like you even need to ask. You're perfect just the way that you are, manipulation and all. Now get dressed, babe. We don't wanna be late."

…

Marcy shot plenty of sideways glances to her partner as they drove through the evening traffic but even with spending twenty minutes looking for somewhere to leave the car and tying to ignore Bonnie's quiet huffs of annoyance at her awful reverse parking she wasn't quite sure what was on the other woman's mind. But it was something, for certain. Not just the business with King although Marceline was willing to bet a lot of money that the redhead wasn't as recovered from all that as she claimed. No, it was something else. Something Bonnie was holding back. And in Marcy's experience Bonnie held back when she was ashamed of something; it couldn't be anything good. But they were there to have a brilliant time with Jake to celebrate his impending marriage so Marcy shelved her worries for now and led the way into a bar she hadn't been to in years.

"The Fat Dog? We're going to a gay bar?" Bonnie asked sceptically as she followed her partner.

"Lady's orders. She said if Jake's going to 'celebrate his freedom' and leave her at home with the kids then he was going somewhere she didn't need to worry about the women hitting on him. Huh, looks like the man himself isn't here yet." she added, scanning the dense crowd that filled the gloomy bar.

"Are you sure we're completely welcome in here? This seems like a very _male_ gay bar." Bonnie muttered as Marcy used her bump to shove through the crowd to the bar.

A large poster just inside the door had caught her eye, advertising an all-male strip group and declaring 'BEAR DOWN FOR THE BARE BEARS EVERY TUESDAY' in neon lettering above a picture of three muscular, bearded men posing in tight leather shorts. Bars like that made her a little nervous, she always felt quite out of place. And they were catching more than a couple of unfriendly stares from some of the patrons. But Marcy just shrugged.

"It's not like we're tourists. I mean, we're a gay couple too, right?"

"Well if we're not you've got some explaining to do, you make a very convincing lesbian."

Marceline was saved from having to think of a clever retort by Finn elbowing his way through the crowd to them with Phoebe on his arm.

"LADIES!" he announced in a loud voice, "Over here, we already ordered! I didn't see you come in!"

They followed Finn over to a large table in the corner where Jake, Phoebe, BMO and a few of Jake's catering college buddies were waiting. Marcy couldn't help but notice they were all wearing white t-shirts with slogans printed across the chest. With a flourish Finn produced two more shirts from a bag under the table and handed them across.

"'Bon Appetite'. Finn, I'm not wearing this." Bonnie frowned, unfolding her shirt and reading the black lettering he must have had specially printed.

"It's a joke! Because your name is Bon and you're a lesbian so you eat-"

"I got it, it's just not funny. And it doesn't go with my dress." she interrupted him hastily.

"Mine says 'String Players Do It With Their Fingers'. Dude, how long did you spend thinking up these jokes? Because it should have been longer, this is terrible. My freshman undergrads come up with better fingering jokes than this." Marcy sighed. Nonetheless she pulled the absolutely enormous shirt over her head, covering the worst of her kaftan.

"Whatever, you love it. It's a men's XXXL size, I wasn't sure how big you'd need for your bump." Finn explained a little tipsily.

"Looks like you could have used one of those spare X's to be honest." she replied, casting a dubious glance at his very tight shirt. It did show off the blonde man's excellent physique but Marcy had to wonder if Finn had really thought through walking around a notorious gay bar dressed in a shirt that looked like it had been painted on and bearing the legend 'Sun's Out Guns Out'. There were certainly more people than just his girlfriend devouring him with their eyes.

"Well I like mine." Jake piped up, looking around and grinning. He stood up from the table to proudly show off the beer belly straining the bottom of a shirt a little too small with 'Engaged, Chubby & Ready To Be Her Hubby' emblazoned across it.

"Right! Sit! Shots!" Finn announced eagerly. He pushed them both down onto a bench and handed Bonnie her very own tray of suspicious green drinks. Marcy rolled her eyes and accepted the orange juice on the edge of the tray with ill grace.

"What is that?" she asked him, indicating the green liquor that her partner had already downed two of.

"Absinthe." Finn grinned wickedly. "It's a manchelorette party, we're drinking something _cool."_

"You're disgusting. No, really. Doesn't that stuff rot your brain?"

"Gentlemen and, erm, ladies!" a voice boomed from the small stage in the corner. "Put your hands together for this evening's entertainment, all the way from sun-soaked Barcelona for one very special performance, it's the beautiful TIFFANY DELL'OLLIO!"

"Dude, did you-"

"SURPRISE!"

Jake was gaping at his little brother who grinned at him hugely before pointing at the stage and making a shushing motion. Next second the recorded voice of Nicole Kidman was rolling through the club and a spotlight was searching the heavy velvet curtain.

" _The French are glad to diiiiive for love..."_

The trumpets kicked in, the lights went up and the curtain was hauled back at breakneck speed to reveal none other than Jake's old buddy and Finn's former drill sergeant from back in the day dressed as an old fashioned can-can dancer complete with feather boa, body glitter and six inch heels.

" _A kiss on the hand may be quite continental_. _But diamonds are a girl's best friend!"_ Tiffany lip-synched perfectly, throwing a wink at Jake's table.

Jake himself was sitting with his mouth open, staring at Tiffany like he'd seen a ghost. Trust Finn to dig up the military brat turned drag dancer, Marcy thought to herself. He'd absolutely despised Tiffany when he and Jake had been friends at catering college together then in a weird coincidence he'd turned up at boot camp only to be greeted by his rival for brotherly affection. Finn didn't talk too much about what had happened at boot camp or officer training and he'd said all of three or four full sentences about what had gone down in Afghanistan. But when Tiff showed up on one of his whirlwind visits the blonde man often sat and talked to him in a quiet voice, he always seemed so much more peaceful afterwards. Marcy at least was glad Finn had a friend he could confide in about the darker parts of his military career, even if he did like to flounce around in sequins. She watched awed as he performed the entire iconic Moulin Rouge song flawlessly, dancing better in heels than most women she'd met. At the song's climax Tiffany descended from the stage, sashayed through the wildly applauding crowd and folded himself down into a surprised Jake's lap before wrapping the feather boa around his neck and reeling him in to press a dramatic kiss against his cheek.

"Jacob Madigan you old _dog!"_ Tiffany announced the second the cheering died down. "Getting married! And not to me! _Scandalous."_

"You said there was nobody to watch the hotel, you said you couldn't make it!" Jake stuttered.

"A cunning lie. I left that gorgeous young thing who never wears a shirt to handle it for a few days, give him some experience. Well, some _other_ experience." Tiffany smirked with a wink for the rest of the table. "Oh, and speaking of gorgeous young things, I don't think we've been properly introduced. Tiffany Dell'ollio at your service. Hotelier, dancer and gentleman."

He slid off Jake's lap onto one knee and took Phoebe's hand, pressing a chaste kiss against it and making her giggle.

"This is my girlfriend, Phoebe." Finn introduced.

" _Enchant_ é _"_ Tiffany demurred. "And you're dating Finn? Oh sweetheart, come back to Spain with me and I'll find you ten or twelve real men who'd walk across broken glass just to feel the air stir as you pass them."

"Creep." Finn said with an eye roll.

"Breeder." Tiffany shot back.

"Not yet. One day, though."

"Maybe." Phoebe added with a frown for her boyfriend. "Let Marcy have her moment in the pregnancy spotlight before we make any decisions."

Tiffany whipped around to stare at Marceline who waved back sheepishly.

"Babygoth, have you got an actual _baby_ _goth_ on board?" he demanded.

"Two, actually. Twins. Due any day now." she confirmed with the same soft smile that talking about her babies always brought to her face. Bonnie placed a loving hand on the bump and they glanced at each other almost shyly.

"And to think you went to all the trouble of finding a donor when my fabulous sperm was available and you had the chance to have little Tiffany Juniors. Such a waste." the drag queen sighed dramatically.

"I just didn't think the world was ready for the awesomeness of combining our DNA." Marcy grinned back.

They settled to the very serious business of downing shots and telling embarrassing stories about Jake, all except Marcy who stared glumly at her orange juice and tried to remember how it had tasted with vodka in it. It was fate, or maybe Finn planned it, but her attention was caught by movement on the stage about an hour later.

"Finn, are they wheeling out a karaoke machine?" Marcy asked, interrupting his story about the time Jake stayed out in their parents' garden all night 'being a brick'.

"Yeah? Why?" he replied. Then; "NO! No, you're not allowed, you're banned from karaoke! Marcy, come on, remember that time you got us kicked out of the wine bar across town for being too good?"

"I haven't sung karaoke for _ages._ " she said with a sly smile, ignoring his protests.

A barman came by in fishnet stockings and a bowtie, throwing an appreciative smirk at Tiffany and holding what looked very much like a song selection book and sign-up sheet.

"Can I interest you folks in our karaoke battle tonight?" he asked with a pearly grin.

"Can anyone enter?" Marcy replied quickly, before Finn could send him away.

"Sure thing, even a girl, even one with a bun in the oven. You wanna flick through the book and pick a song? The team that wins first prize gets their drinks free for the night."

"But we're-" Finn started

"Gonna need a minute to pick a team name. What are the rules?" Bonnie cut him off loudly.

"Everyone on your team's gotta sing at least one line, no professional singers. Like the Olympics. You get a judge score from the bar and a vote from the crowd, highest scoring team wins. Maximum team of five." the barman shrugged.

"Yeah, put us down as Team Manchellorette." Finn enthused. He'd heard the words 'free drinks' and had obviously forgotten how terrible he felt after drinking with his one kidney. The barman nodded and moved off to the next table.

"Five. So, no offence, but you're exempt on grounds of having the worst voice ever, Bon." Finn announced the moment the barman was gone. "You too, Tiff, Marce. No professionals."

"I'm not a professional singer." Marceline interrupted him. "He said no professional _singers_ , technically I'm a professional _bassist_."

"And I don't sing, I synch." Tiffany agreed. "So I'm out anyway. Right, so Finn, Jake, Babygoth, Phoebe and... any of you boys feeling brave?"

He looked around to their old catering buddies, brothers Shelby and Kent, who both shrugged and shook their heads. But BMO was grinning from ear to ear.

"You should just hear my Sinatra! I do My Way my way! What kinda Italian would I be if I didn't sing Sinatra at every possible opportunity?" he enthused, almost bouncing in his seat at the prospect.

"So Team Manchellorette is Babygoth, The Madigans, Face-Of-An-Angel and ChickenHawk's Delight over there. If you don't know what it means, google it." Tiffany added when BMO looked at him in confusion over his new nickname.

The first team were awful, they left the stage in disgrace with a polite but grudging spattering of applause. The next team were better, they might actually be competition, Marcy though. But they were four deep voiced men who made the mistake of trying to sing Dolly Parton, as much as her music appealed to the crowd they they really struggled to hit the high notes. And then it was their turn. She smirked and took the main microphone tapping along with her foot as the iconic bassline started and trying to ignore Bonnie's eye roll from across the room. The redhead was just sour she was forbidden from singing and Marcy had flat-out refused to even consider doing anything by Taylor Swift.

" _Just a small town girl._

 _Livin' in a lonely world._

 _She took the midnight train goin' anywhere."_

Finn stepped forward and sang the next section.

" _Just a city boy._

 _Born and raised in South Detroit._

 _He took the midnight train goin' anywhere."_

By the time BMO, Jake and Phoebe had all sung their sections and the five were harmonizing on the chorus the whole bar was watching, transfixed. Marcy grinned; those free drinks were gonna be theirs.

...

"What's 'Confession'?" Phoebe asked a little tipsily after their second round of free shots had been drunk, and if she'd know what it was going to lead to Bonnie would definitely not have answered. But it had been ages since they'd played a drinking game and they didn't have to pay for their drinks, besides it was a special occasion.

"Did you find by the time your freshman year of uni was done playing 'Never Have I Ever' was getting lame and predictable?" she asked instead.

"Yeah? But we used to play 'Ring of Fire' instead, that was a killer."

"We used to say 'Ring of Fire' was for kids. But it's a truth universally acknowledged that nobody plays drinking games harder than medics, something about knowing in graphic detail the effects alcohol has on the body makes them drink like they're trying to kill themselves. So 'Confession' is a game a group of us invented about two months into second year. One person takes a mouthful of alcohol but doesn't swallow, they've gotta hold it on their tongue. Everyone else takes it in turns to confess to increasingly messed up stuff until they swallow or spit it out in surprise. And they've gotta be true confessions too, no lies. Whoever makes them spit or swallow 'wins' the round and everyone else has to take a shot."

"Sounds pretty simple. And really fucking dangerous." Phoebe replied with a grin. "So who's gonna be the first spitter?"

"Might as well get my round out of the way since I'm on orange anyway." Marcy shrugged. "Besides, half the fun is that sometimes you just gotta take a shot in the mouth and swallow it down because it's burning your tongue. Stop laughing, Finn, you're so distasteful! Right, fine, you go first then."

The blonde man grinned and poured a shot of absinthe into his mouth, cheeks bulging comically like a bullfrog. Jake leaned forwards first.

"Ok, so, normally the first rounds are just silly shit. But 'Confession' can get intense, and just like in real confession the game is sacrosanct. We don't discuss confessions outside of 'Confession', unless someone admits to murder or something. Having said that... Finn, you remember that time before I dropped out of uni and you were in your last year of college when I had that huge party? You got passout drunk and we took that picture of your wet pants and told you you'd peed yourself? Marcy just poured water onto your jeans, you didn't pee yourself." the older man admitted. Finn narrowed his eyes and deliberately spurted the whole shot right into his brother's grinning face.

"WHAT THE HELL, DUDE? I WAS SO EMBARRASSED!" Finn yelled angrily.

"I was eighteen! I'd just got away from home, I was hanging with my cool eighteen year old friends! And you were _so drunk_ , bro come on! You were cramping my style!" Jake replied, holding one hand up defensively and wiping the alcohol off his cheek with the other.

"You showed that picture to Mum and complained about having to babysit me! I was grounded for the whole of my last year of college! Fine. I have the perfect revenge confession for you. Take a shot."

Jake shrugged a grabbed a shot of his own, holding it in his mouth and looking at his brother expectantly.

"When I was six I farted on your toothbrush every day before you used it for like, a week, because a kid at school dared me to."

Jake went a strange colour and he would have choked if Tiffany hadn't thumped him hard between the shoulder blades.

"Handle end or bristles?" Marcy asked with a grin.

"Uhh..." Finn was looking at his feet, avoiding her eyes.

"Oh my God. Both? Dude, you're gross!"

"I was six!"

"We were all six once upon a time! Nobody else put toothbrushes anywhere but their mouths!"

And that's how they continued; through explosions of laughter into serious confessions that had people swallowing their drink to comfort the confessor and further into six year old Finn's bizarre psyche than anyone had ever really wanted to go.

"One time I deliberately broke my finger to get an extension on a uni paper because I didn't want to risk not getting a first on every single assignment that year." Phoebe confessed.

"I had sex with my landlady when I got out of the Army. I always knew I was gay, I'm so not into women. But... yeah, it was a dry patch, I was feeling pretty messed up and I figured a hole's a hole, right? It was so awful. Vaginas are more terrifying than getting caught in a Taliban ambush, believe me." Tiffany added.

"I don't really like working in the restaurant. I'm doing it to make Dad happy. But I want to work with kids, maybe be a teacher or something." BMO said quietly, staring down at his hands.

"When I was about nineteen I went on one of our usual adventure holidays with Simon and Betty. We went to the rainforest to see the orangutans and being the lucky girl I am I got a parasitic infection. Like, I literally had bugs living under the skin of my stomach. It was the grossest thing ever, I had to spray my tummy button with this insecticide and pull them out with a pair of tweezers, it hurt so bad and it made me want to puke to have to pull actual bugs out of my actual skin. I still have nightmares about it." Marcy admitted around a freaked out wince of recollection.

"Kent's a clone made out of my butt cells." Shelby piped up drunkenly.

"Dude, no I'm not! We're identical twins, _you_ might be a clone made out of _my_ butt for all we know!"

"I did something _really_ bad yesterday and I regret it so much and I don't know how else to say it or if you'll ever forgive me for it. I, uh, I went to see my ex. To apologise for having her arrested. And, uh, she was hitting on me like crazy and then she tried to kiss me so I left. I wish I'd never gone. " Bonnie said flatly.

Marcy had been the one with a mouthful of orange juice that time; she swallowed it and stood up as quickly as her bump would allow, face blank and stunned.

"I can't believe you. This is how you tell me? Jake, sorry, I've gotta go out."

Next second she was pushing through the crowd to the exit.

"Uh oh, I think you fucked up real bad this time. Y'r a _horrible_ girlfriend." Finn slurred to Bonnie with a very drunken frown on his slack face.

...

It wasn't like Marcy could have really gotten too far anyway with how she was struggling to walk these days so she sank down onto one of the benches in the small plaza outside the Fat Dog with her head in her hands. Trust Bonnie to find a way to completely ruin what would have otherwise been a very pleasant night. She didn't even look around when someone lowered themselves down onto the bench next to her, it was one of two people and if it was her partner she was gonna get up and leave again. Jake's voice made her jump although she wasn't terribly surprised it was him when she thought about it.

"Bonnie's too ashamed to come out to you." Jake said a little unsteadily.

"She should be. Bitch." Marcy murmured to the floor. Jake's hands found her wrists and pulled her gently upwards until she was looking at his bleary face.

"I'm not even surprised that you guys are blowing up like this. After all that shit with King, it's normal that you'd both be tense. And seriously, how mad can you be with Bon for trying to make it up to her ex? Yeah, she did a bad. But she didn't intend for it to go that way."

"Oh believe me, I'm plenty mad. She fucked up, she went to see that fucking _bitch_ Shoko behind my back and she just announces it like that in front of everyone? I'm so sick of the way Bonnie acts like I'm an afterthought to her. She didn't even stop to think about whether I'd be upset about it, she didn't think at all."

Jake sighed, nodding to accept that that was probably true.

"I'm not gonna say that she did or didn't think it through. I am gonna remind you she's been under a ridiculous amount of stress recently though. And that you're currently carrying her babies. Yeah, I know, they're not biologically hers. But you're both gonna be their mothers, you're in this together. Aren't you?"

"I'm not walking out on her for it, no. But I'm... Jake, I feel so betrayed. I know sometimes Bonnie can be selfish, for someone so amazingly smart she can be so stupid about stuff. She does whatever seems like a good idea to her at the time and she doesn't think about how it would affect anyone else. I feel like she forgets I even exist sometimes. How could she just not tell me?" Marcy replied, avoiding his eyes.

"Did I ever tell you about Samantha?" Jake asked instead.

"No?"

"This girl, I met her through some mutual contacts in the business. It was about the time Charlie was born. And did you ever meet someone and just know that it could be so sweet between you if you got together? Like, she was so completely my type it was almost too perfect. And it was clearly mutual because she was hitting on me like crazy, telling me she'd been looking for a guy like me her whole life. And I thought about my pregnant girlfriend and my baby son and everything we had together. I hesitated, because she _was_ perfect. And then I said no and I walked away. Lady doesn't know, because what would I even tell her? 'Hey this really hot girl that I had a ton in common with was totally crazy for me and she tried to make out with me and I pushed her away and I'm sorry someone else found me attractive'? I mean... yeah, she'd be mad at me even though I didn't do anything except exist. But I didn't encourage her. I didn't do anything but be in her immediate vicinity and be the kinda guy she was looking for. So maybe the fact that Bonnie didn't tell you was because she simply didn't have the words and didn't know what to say to you. I dunno, just an idea." Jake finished with a shrug.

"You never told me."

"I never told anyone."

"I guess I can't blame Shoko for thinking she's hot. She _is_ hot. And, really lovely a lot of the time. She can be so sweet and protective. And if I lost her I'd be desperate to get her back, too. I'm still mad at her for going over there though."

"I know, nobody expects you not to be upset. Come back inside and tell her so, you guys are too good together to stay mad at each other."

So Marcy heaved herself back to her feet and waddled back into the bar after Jake. She came back to the table and slid into the empty seat next to her partner and made no move to shrug Bonnie's hand away when the redhead rested it cautiously on her knee. Under cover of Tiffany telling a loud drunken story about an important drag queen competition he'd won the year before she turned to her partner, frowning.

"You're the most selfish arsehole I ever met. And if I didn't love you beyond words and I wasn't pregnant as fuck I'd be _so_ gone. I hate how you just do whatever you want and don't think about me. I hate how you just throw out stuff like this when it's totally inappropriate. And I love you, I love all the stupid things you do and all the stupid things you make me do too, like encouraging me to get pregnant with our twins because let's face it, we're in some uncharted territory here.. I just... urgh, you drive me crazy, Bon. But yeah, I can hardly blame your ex for wanting you. If I was your ex I'd do anything I could think of to get you back too. It doesn't mean I'm happy about it though. So. Yeah. I forgive you. Mostly. But you better not do anything like that ever again." Marcy muttered in a rush.

"Marcy, please. It was just that I wanted to apologise to her, I wanted to be the bigger person about it all. I never thought she'd take that as an invitation to-"

"Just, don't. Ok? Don't. I don't wanna know, I just... I want to forget this. And that Shoko bitch better watch her back. I don't share well."

"I know. And baby, please, I love you. I'm so sorry."

"You better be sorrier than you've ever been for anything. And I hope your hangover is terrible tomorrow morning. Drink up."


	36. Week 36

**As ever, I am so sorry for the delay in getting this chapter to you. In my defence, my internet was out for a week and this is a significantly longer piece of writing than any other chapter in this story so far. I'm sorry I didn't post it sooner, guys. But I'm glad you all seemed to enjoy the last chapter. A quick note though, I do genuinely love getting your feedback, even just a couple of words, because it helps me know if I'm on the right course. So if you could find the time to drop a quick review after reading and just let me know if there's something you like, something you didn't like, anything you'd like to speculate on or what you hope to see next? I can't tell you how much I'd appreciate it.**

 **There are a lot of songs in this chapter! And not all of them are mentioned by name. But if you were interested in listening to them, they are in order: Moon River, Audrey Heppburn's song from the classic _Breakfast at Tiffany's._ I like to think Tiffany was singing along. Dude Looks Like A Lady, Aerosmith. Because that's Jake's sense of humour. And although it isn't mentioned by name, Always a Woman (Lady?), Billy Joel. You're My Best Friend, one of the best Queen songs ever recorded (and penned by the vastly underrated John Deacon no less, bassists with know who I mean). I Would Do Anything For Love, Meatloaf. I swear there's context for that one. And lastly it's October by Jonas Alaska. One of the saddest songs I ever heard. **

**And of course there are some chapter notes to go with this if you're interested. An orangery or glasshouse for those who don't know is a large old fashioned greenhouse, usually with hip height old brick walls topped with sheet glass and usually an iron or wooden frame. They could be huge and used to be built around big fancy houses to grow exotic fruits and vegetables, the few that now remain are usually in pretty bad shape so when they get rescued and reused for something it's always nice, it preserves local history. Pethidine is a pretty strong opioid and it's well known to cause a drugged or drunk response in a lot of patients given it. Harry Potter and Twilight references abound and there's just some general nerdiness in there. Recognise a thing? It's probably deliberate. Also 'Franks' is another term for hotdogs in the US, if you weren't aware. So yeah, Dr Franks is Hotdog Princess. Because cameos.**

 **Content Warning: oh where to start? Wedding nerves, naughty kids, plot pieces coming together, poorly timed life decisions, medical stuff, bad language, blood, cliffhangers.**

* * *

Overnight the small cherry tree that overhung Bonnie's ramshackle potting shed at the bottom of their garden had burst into a more spectacular bloom than either of them had ever seen before. As Jake was having his bowtie fixed for him and staring out of the conservatory window he considered that it was probably a good omen. Lucky cherry blossom for his wedding day. He tried to focus on working out the ratio of flowers to buds; anything to keep from dwelling on the nervous twisting sensation in his stomach. There was just a tiny chance that he might pass out before he made it anywhere near the small registry office his beautiful fiancée would become his beautiful wife in. After a moment more Hunson, who'd been pressed into bowtie duty, straightened up and nodded approval.

"There you are, son. You look like a billionaire." the older man told him with one of his rare smiles.

"Thank you, sir." Jake replied politely. Despite all of their dealing he was still a little wary of Marceline's father, had been since he was seventeen and had picked her up to go to a gig and Hunson had quietly told him that if he so much as breathed in his daughter's direction without her express consent then the old man would make sure Jake's body was never found. That had been an awkward conversation; Jake hadn't known that Marcy hadn't come out to her father yet.

The door opened and his best friend and Maid of Honour came into view, walking as fast as her huge bump would allow and trailed by a very serious looking Charlie who was tiptoeing carefully in her little cream gown. She'd insisted on having a pretty dress to match her mother despite it being bad luck for anyone but the bride to wear white. Jake had agreed with his daughter; it would've been worse luck if she'd damaged anything in the bridal shop during her monumental tantrum. So Charlie wore a little princess dress in soft cream with a deep blue sash matching the other bridesmaids' dresses and the boys' waistcoats.

"Bonnie just called, they're running ever so slightly late. TV chewed up Kim's bowtie and got drool on it so they're trying to wash and carefully dry it before we set off. Worst case scenario you'll have a tieless ring bearer. But they're gonna be about half an hour late so we can just cool our jets here before you need to be anywhere."

"Ok. Wow. An extra half hour for something to go wrong." Jake replied nervously. He was fighting the urge to bite his nails, what if Lady changed her mind? Before he could worry over it more Charlie skipped forward and hugged his leg happily, grinning up at him with excited eyes.

"Daddy, look! Imma REAL princess!" she all but yelled, tugging on his trouser leg.

"Yes you are, honey. You look so pretty." Jake replied with a smile that he hoped didn't look as strained as it felt. Before anyone could say another word there was a thump from upstairs and Violet wailed angrily; Junior must have woken her from her mid-morning nap.

"I'll go, you sit down and take the weight off your feet, Pumpkin." Hunson directed, hurrying from the room. Charlie trailed after him, pirouetting and giggling at the way her skirt flared.

"I can't decide if he's just being overprotective of me or if he's trying to practice his grandadding skills." Marcy sighed as she eased herself down onto the sofa. Jake came across and sat next to her.

"Maybe both? I'm sure your Dad appreciates spending time with small people just as much as he doesn't want you to strain yourself running around after my brood. I'm starting to think Lady had the better part of the deal, surely the boys can't be as much of a handful as this?"

"Could you imagine trying to get ready with Kim under your feet bossing you around though?" Marcy asked with a grin. "No wonder Lady wanted both Finn and Bonnie to help keep him occupied instead of me. Besides, Bon's the only one who can match him in bossiness. I guess it's an elder sibling thing. When's your Dad coming, by the way?"

"Any time now. You gonna be ok following us to the registry office?"

"Assuming I don't go hormone crazy and strangle my father, yes. I hate having to ask for his help like this but I didn't want to call a taxi and risk it not turning up or something."

Marcy's bump had finally expanded to the point where even driving in her enormous new car was impossible; she couldn't reach the gear stick or bottom of the wheel easily. So Hunson had been pressed into service at short notice to drive her to the ceremony instead of just meeting them with all the other guests.

"I'm scared." Jake admitted quietly, fidgeting with his shirt sleeves. "What if something goes wrong? I know today is only formalising what we already have but it's a wedding, there's so much stuff that could get messed up, you know?"

"Dude, it'll be fine. Stop messing with your shirt. What's the worst that could happen, Kim's gonna stand up and object?" Marcy asked with a crooked smile. Jake smiled back weakly before getting to his feet and pacing, going to the front window and staring out up the road again.

"Here comes Dad. I'll go get the girls." he announced after a tense second.

Marcy heaved herself back up on her third attempt and went to the door to greet Joshua who was puffing up the garden path and still struggling with his own bowtie.

"Josh, hey. Jake's just herding the girls downstairs." she told him as a pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.

"Marceline, lovely to see you again. And look at your bump! Are you pregnant with twin humans or horses?" Joshua asked in a cheerful voice.

"Sometimes I wonder, I'm sure human babies don't kick as much as this. Can I get you a drink?"

"Hey Dad, Marcy, you gotta come see this." Jake interrupted from the top of the staircase in a quiet voice.

They followed him curiously, carefully once he signalled them to stay quiet. At the top of the stairs Marceline stopped to catch her breath and caught voices coming from the guest room Jake's daughters had been using to get changed in. Jake was in the doorway motioning them forwards with a huge grin plastered across his face.

"-trolls and unicorns have been fighting over disputed territory in the cupcake kingdom again, your highnesses. What should we do?" Hunson was asking gravely.

"A million years dungeon! No trials!" Charlie shouted delightedly.

"Very well, Queen Charlie. Does Princess Junior agree with the verdict?"

"Dungeon!"

"Most excellent highnesses, I will have the guards put both the unicorn and troll chieftains in the dungeon until they can hug it out and be friends."

"You're real good at playing princess, Daddy Abadeer. Aunty Marcy is super lucky to have you to be her Daddy." Charlie added thoughtfully.

"I don't know that she'd agree with you but I appreciate the sentiment. And please, Charlie, you can call me Hunson."

"Hunson. You're funny."

"Nobody else seems to think so, but thank you. And I do believe your father is outside the door waiting to go get married, are you girls ready?"

Jake's choked snort of surprise must have given them away. In all the years he'd known Marceline's father he'd never been invited to call the older man anything except 'Mr Abadeer' or 'Sir'. Charlie was, as they were all very aware, a miracle. She came skipping innocently out to them followed by Junior and then Hunson carrying a sleeping Violet. He handed the baby across to Jake, nodded solemnly to him and followed the girls downstairs looking every inch his usual sombre self. Marcy and Jake couldn't make eye contact for a few minutes afterwards for fear of sending each other to the floor with laughter. At least it had cured Jake's nerves, Marcy thought. And when she caught the sly smile her father shot her way as he helped Joshua with his own bowtie and shooed them all out of the door Marceline had to wonder if that hadn't been part of her father's plan all along.

It was as Hunson was pulling off the drive, just as Marceline bent back to reach for her seatbelt. Like a sort of tight cramp in her lower back that lasted for a couple of seconds before easing up. For a moment she paused, concerned.

"Is everything ok, Pumpkin?" Hunson asked when he noticed her frown.

"Yeah, just my back. It's been playing up all morning, feels a bit like some more of those Braxton Hicks contractions again."

"Well you let me know if it gets worse, it'd be just like you to give birth at Jake's wedding."

"Wow, thanks for the sympathy, Daddy. No, it's just practice contractions, I'm sure of it."

"If you're sure. You let me know the minute you feel anything else though, you promise?"

"I promise. Now come on, we don't have time to sit around. I'm supposed to be looking after the kids through the ceremony."

...

Despite all Jake's nerves and worries it was a perfect and beautiful ceremony and nobody interrupted. Junior did stand up at the point when the registrar asked if anyone had any objections but it was just because she was bored, not because she didn't want her parents to be legally wed. Everyone had a good chuckle and Bonnie led the little girl back to her seat with a quiet promise of chocolate if she sat still just a bit longer. Even Jake let out a weak laugh before turning back to his teary eyed bride, being declared man and wife and pressing a relieved kiss to her lips almost before the words were out of the registrar's mouth and getting another laugh from their guests. There were photos for the wedding party and a brief break while the guests all made their way across town to Jake's grand unveiling of The Glasshouse as his wedding reception venue. It was strange to see Tiffany in a dapper suit with his fabulous blonde mane combed back into a demure ponytail, Marcy thought as she waved across the car park to him, but he rather suited it. Obviously Lady had put her foot down about Jake's friend wearing male-specific clothes for her big day, it made sense. If anyone was going to upstage the bride it would be Tiffany, his gowns were the stuff of legends.

Bonnie and Marcy chatted happily about how lovely the ceremony was on the drive over, how the kids had been mostly well behaved and they were so glad everything had gone off without a hitch. Then they pulled down the gently winding slope just outside of town towards Jake's new property and both felt their jaws drop. It was a glasshouse alright, a huge round Victorian double height orangery with a delicate wrought iron framework and its own orchard surrounding it. The magnificent old country house it must have once stood in the grounds of was gone but the small stone stables attached to the glasshouse still stood and were now renovated into state of the art kitchens to Jake's exacting specifications. If Treehouse looked like a piece of modern art then Glasshouse was a cathedral to the most beautiful kind of old fashioned architecture.

"Woah. Jake's really hit the jackpot on this one. This is insanely gorgeous and I haven't even tried the food yet." Marcy breathed as they pulled up alongside the other wedding guests.

"He certainly kept it quiet enough. Guess he wanted the big reveal for today. I wouldn't mind driving a little way out of town to go somewhere like this, it's like something from a movie." Bonnie agreed.

Bonnie had driven Lady to the registry office and allowed her fancy sports car to be used for their official photos since she'd taken the time to decorate the front with white ribbons and a small spray of flowers that matched the bride's pale golden calla lily bouquet. But there wasn't room enough for both her and Jake after the ceremony and the redhead drew the line at allowing either of them to drive her car. So instead she'd taken charge of her partner from Hunson and driven them both out to the reception venue.

They were met at the door by Big Mo and a few of Jake's regular servers that Marcy recognised from Treehouse. The elderly Italian man beamed around at the new Mr and Mrs Madigan, pressing a kiss to Lady's cheek in greeting before wrapping Jake in a proud hug.

"It is with the greatest pleasure that I welcome you all to our latest venture, The Glasshouse." Jake announced to the crowd of guests as he addressed them from the front step. "This is it's maiden voyage so I hope you enjoy it, please feel free to let me know what you think of the place. Come on in, there's a buffet and drinks waiting."

"How'd he find time to set up a buffet?" Bonnie asked quietly as they filed in behind some of Lady's cousins.

"I guess BMO and Big Mo fixed it. Jake spent most of last night panicking over tiny details and having to be calmed down, I thought Finn was gonna smother him in his sleep. I'm glad he came over to you and Lady this morning, getting in between a stressed out Madigan brother fight isn't something I enjoy having to do." Marcy replied.

"Honestly, I am too. Kim was just the worst, in the end Finn took him outside and played football with him to work off some energy while I fixed Lady's make up. He was so hyperactive and just had his hands in everything, I had to wash foundation crème out of my dress and wipe it off the bottom of the bouquet. And then TV had his bowtie chewing incident, I think Lady was about ready to break down and cry. Were the girls ok with you?"

"Babe, it was the weirdest thing. Daddy took them upstairs to play princesses and I've never seen him like that before. Like... I never thought I'd say it but he's definitely gonna rock as a granddad. But yeah, the girls were fine. Even Charlie was mostly well behaved."

And then they were inside the Glasshouse proper and conversation was the last thing on either woman's mind. They both stared around with all the other guests, almost overwhelmed by what Jake had done with the place.

The ceiling was strung with nets of simple white fairy lights and delicate wire baskets overflowing with air plants and orchids. Every slender iron support pillar had been wrapped in cream and navy satins ribbons and more fairy lights, the tables had been laid out with crisp linens and polished silver cutlery arranged around waterfall floral centrepieces. And right in the middle of the huge round orangery there was an old fashioned clockwork fountain, one of those that had to be wound every morning and shot gentle plumes of water a few feet into the air before tumbling back down amongst pale flowering water lilies. Around the edges of the verdant leaves occasional flashes of gold and red announced the presence of ornamental koi carp; the attention to detail was magnificent. Even the soft sprinkle of water droplets falling back to the surface of the fountain added a subtly musical note to the warm air, fading away intruding sounds from outside behind its calming background murmur.

"Daddy, this is _beautiful_." Charlie announced loudly as she stared around with wide eyes.

"I've got to agree, there's no other word for it. It's simply beautiful. Well done, Jacob." Lady's father nodded. The compliment, coming from one of the most severe and upright men Jake had ever met, meant more than he could have said. But Jake's closest friends and his new wife could tell by the crinkles in the sides of his eyes and the completely honest smile on his face as he shook his father-in-law's hand.

"It's free choice for seating, there should be room for everyone with plenty to spare. Dig in, I'm told the buffet was supplied by one of those fancy restaurants in town." he announced instead, cheeks flaring a little in happy embarrassment.

Under the cover of the guests stampeding to the long table piled high with extravagant food along the single stone wall Marcy moved a little closed and snagged Jake's sleeve, ignoring the twinge in her lower back as she went. Probably all that chasing after the girls last night, she should have known better than to overexert herself but her best friend had just really needed to rest and not panic himself to death. Besides a few seconds later the momentary ache was gone and she thought no more about it.

"Dude, this is amazing. And suspicious. I know how well Treehouse has been doing well since Christmas but this is something else. You're paying a ton of permanent staff and I heard BMO is going part time so he can start training to teach. Am I missing something? Where's the money coming from?" Marcy asked in an undertone.

"Ok, we were gonna tell you when you weren't about to pop, but, um, your father wanted to go halfers on the new place. He called me a while ago and asked if I was still interested in business opportunities, said he'd had a visit from someone who got him thinking maybe an investment wasn't a bad idea. And that I was a much better bet than the other guy, wondered if I'd heard this old place was on the market at a knock-down price and had I met his old journalist buddy? Hunson set up the interview with the papers for Treehouse, he wanted to help me build up my reputation and protect his investment. Said I'd been like a brother to you and he wanted to thank me." Jake admitted.

"That sneaky old bastard. He always has his fingers in whatever everyone has going on, I'm not even surprised." Marceline sighed. It must have been that visit from Ash that got her father thinking about investments, maybe that was when he'd found out about Glasshouse being on the market.

"And he said, uh, when he passes away then half of this place will go to you, and the twins. It's an investment for your family and mine. Are you mad at us?"

"I don't even know what to say. No, not mad. I dunno, not even really shocked. And you two kept this from me?"

"As a surprise. We didn't want you to stress, not when you already had so much to sort out with the twins."

Marceline punched Jake as hard as she could in the shoulder, grinned a little and threw a hug around his broad neck.

"What is it with fathers and brothers and being sneaky bastards? The two of you have been thick as thieves for months! And you kept it from me long enough to get all the heavy work sorted out, dammit Jake you're such a _brother_ to me."

"Payback for that time we lived together and you refused to let me pay rent, like, ever. Come on then, you're missing the awesome food." he replied softly, hugging her back.

...

In years to come people would talk about Finn's best man's speech and howl with laughter, remembering all those amazing things he'd revealed about his brother. Like the time he'd eaten mystery ham right out of the snow or the legendary Dungeons and Dragons board game nights. Kent and Shelby had been present for most of those, they punched each other's shoulders and wore matching grins at the mention of the adventures of Sir Randy Butternubs. But as much as he was reveling in the laughter of the crowd Finn couldn't help but notice his brother's Maid of Honour wasn't really paying attention; Marcy was frowning down at her stomach and rubbing it carefully, wincing occasionally. On one side Lady's father was sitting politely ignoring the fidgety bridesmaid but on the other Bonnie was leaning over and muttering worriedly into her girlfriend's ear. Finn made a quick decision and hurriedly concluded his toast, wishing the bride and groom every happiness and ceding the floor to Bob to deliver the father-of-the-bride speech while he hurried over to Marcy's now vacant left side.

"What is it?" he asked in a low, panicky voice.

"Dragons." Marcy replied with a sour grimace.

"Haha. Seriously, is it the babies?"

"I wish. No, I've just eaten too much and I've got cramp. Turns out that having two brand new humans growing in my abdomen means I don't have as much room for food as I used to. Sit down man, Bob's glaring at you."

Finn sank into the empty seat vacated by Lady's father and tried to concentrate on the older man's speech. But now he was down again he was just as restless as Marcy, shooting nervous glances across to where Phoebe was sitting looking like beauty herself made human. God, she made him feel a little crazy, a little like he was in one of those girly romance films he'd always found so tedious. But now that he was in love himself, so crazily and deeply- _ow_.

Marcy had elbowed him in the ribs, pulling him from his daydreams.

"Dude, what's up with you?" she hissed into his ear. Finn sighed; probably better he just came clean.

"Look, Phoebe got offered a job at a research facility in Switzerland an it's sorta a big deal, it'd be pretty amazing for her career. But I don't know if we can do the long-distance thing so, um, I was gonna try to maybe give her something to come home to today. I went to the jewellers and-"

"No. Dude, you didn't."

He slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out the little velvet ring box, flicking the lid and handing it across to Marcy underneath the table for her opinion.

"I couldn't afford a diamond so I bought her an emerald instead, I thought it'd match her eyes." he admitted quietly. Next second Marceline had snapped the box shut, handed it to Bonnie and it had deftly disappeared into the depths of the redhead's clutch bag.

"Hey! What the hell, give that back!" Finn hissed, half lunging across the table.

"No. Not at Jake's wedding, not when you two have only been back together a few months. Have you any idea how pressuring it would be for Phoebe to have you propose in front of all your friends and family? If she wants a clean break for her career, how awful she'd feel letting you down here? Have you two even talked about marriage or settling down yet?" Bonnie asked him quietly, fixing the younger man with her most serious expression.

"We talked about it! I asked if she'd want a girl or a boy first!"

"That's not a serious 'do we want to settle down together' conversation, Finn. When me and Marcy agreed we wanted to start a family she gave up touring with orchestras so she could take a more stable job, we bought and fixed up a family home and made sure all our finances were in order before we even thought about the logistics of how we'd conceive or who would get pregnant. And we'd been together for six years before we seriously started thinking about how children would fit into our lives. You've known Phoebe what... six months? I'm not saying it to be harsh. You should wait a while longer before you propose if you want her to say yes and mean it." Bonnie told him with a quiet sigh.

Finn hung his head, defeated.

"Can I at least hold onto the ring?" he muttered dejectedly.

"Of course. Just, keep it and have it as something to think about for the future. There's no rush. And if you and Phoebe are really gonna work out then you'll make long-distance work, trust me. We made it work even though Marcy was away for months at a time, when it's right you'll wait any amount of time." Bonnie soothed, taking his hand and drawing his gaze. Finn opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a sharp intake of breath from Marceline.

"It's fine, I'm fine. Just a kick in the ribs and too much food. I'm gonna go hit the bathroom and check the piano Jake set up is in tune, need to warm up before I sing for the newly-weds."

Finn moved back a little and helped Marcy to her feet before he sat back down, watching her slowly move off in the direction of the bathrooms with a concerned frown creasing his brow.

"Is everything ok with you two? You know, since your, er, disagreement at the stag party." he asked Bonnie in an undertone.

"Yeah, we're ok. It's been a bit awkward this week but I think we're getting there. It helps that I've been apologising for it approximately every hour since we got home. And my hangover was just as bad as she hoped." the redhead replied with an eye roll. "No really though, I deserved it. And worse. I know I fucked up, I just wish I could show her how sorry I am."

"I'm certain Marcy knows. I mean, she's been crazy about you since the day you met, you know? She was like a cat in heat after your first date. But please try not to pull crap like that again, for my sake at least. It's always the kids who suffer in divorces and I don't want to have to choose which of you I wanna go live with."

"Did I ever tell you you're a total poop, Finn? But there was something I wanted to ask you actually. Notice how she's walking? Staggering? And there was more than once she had to stop eating because it hurt too bad. Do me a favour and don't drink any more champagne, yeah?" Bonnie asked him quietly, also staring after her girlfriend.

"I haven't had any, this is just elderflower cordial and sparkling water. Same as the kids are drinking." he admitted, raising his own champagne glass. "I had a four day hangover after Jake's stag party, I didn't feel up to any more alcohol yet. Sorta forgot I only had one kidney. You're worried about her, too."

It wasn't a question but Bonnie nodded anyway.

"She's been getting some lower back cramps since before the ceremony, her father mentioned it in passing and asked me to keep an eye on her on ur way over here. It's probably nothing but you know how Marcy is, if she's gotten it into her head that the cramps mean nothing then it'll take a lot to change her mind. And this is my third glass of champagne, I was planning on just getting a taxi home and coming back for the car tomorrow. So, you know, if we need to get to the hospital in a hurry I'm gonna need someone to drive us."

"But I left my car at home, Phoebe and I got a lift with Shelby." Finn replied, voice beginning to rise a little in panic. Bonnie sighed and riffled through her bag for a second, handing him back the ring box and a slim, electronic car key.

"If you scratch it, damage it or in any way do anything to harm my car _at all_ , I will take your bone marrow as payment and distribute it to the leukaemia kids at work. Do you understand me, Finn?"

He gaped, staring at the key like he'd never seen one before.

"This is your car key."

"Yes. And in the event that my very heavily pregnant girlfriend goes into labour and needs someone to drive her to hospital then you'll need to take her in my car. Which I am only trusting you with because these are exceptional circumstances and I didn't realise how painful and frequent her cramps were getting before I had a couple of drinks. As we both know, Marcy is very good at pretending things are ok when they're not. Rather like a cat."

"But, but Bon, your car is-"

"Less important than my children or partner, Finn. Look after that key, ok?"

She nodded to him before standing and deftly intercepting the tiny excitable mass of Madigan children rushing their way and squealing about their parents cutting the cake.

...

As every face in the room turned to the piano and spotlight Finn had rigged to the ceiling Marcy felt an unexpected twist of nerves through her stomach. It was almost painful, almost like she was eight years old and Simon was beaming up proudly while she played Jingle Bells on the piano at the Christmas concert at the village hall. And that painful, churning feeling was worsening as the seconds lengthened, like something was clenching in her lower stomach and squeezing tightly. Marcy shook her head a little, pushing the nerves away although the clenching stayed and didn't quite loosen its grip on her even as she bent towards the microphone positioned on top of the piano.

"Hi, my name's Marceline for those who don't know me, and I'm going to be your entertainment for the first part of the night. I know the groom in particular would like to hear a specific song. Lady, this is for you, from Jake. Would the bride and groom please take the floor for their first dance as man and wife."

She paused, looking out at the crowd and letting her hands flow across the keys for a heartbeat without pressing them, just feeling where they'd need to be. It wasn't impossible to play piano when so heavily pregnant and in fact it was easiest of all the instruments that Marceline felt competent to perform in public with. But her bump did mean she was sitting at more of an angle than usual and it wasn't helping the cramping pains in her back any to have to hunch over like that. At least she was only doing a few songs then Lady was putting on the iTunes playlist she and Jake had worked out together. But the newly-weds were stepping onto the dance floor hand in hand and staring lovingly into each other's eyes and that was Marcy's cue. She began playing the now-familiar tune, closing her eyes against the aches in her stomach and back and the odd gaze still lingering on her.

" _Moon river, wider than a mile._

 _I'm crossing you in style some day._

 _Oh dream maker, you heart breaker_

 _Wherever you're going, I'm going your way._

 _Two drifters, off to see the world._

 _There's such a lot of world to see._

 _We're after the same rainbow's end._

 _Waitin' round the bend, my Huckleberry friend._

 _Moon river, and me."_

She continued playing the slow waltz melody for another few minutes after the lyrics had ended, giving Jake time to show his new wife the dance he'd painstakingly learnt for her over the previous weeks. Lady's eyes looked suspiciously watery, like she was keeping back tears of happiness with some difficulty, and Marcy wasn't sure she'd ever seen her best friend's smile as soft and tender as it was as he gazed at his new wife. She was happy for them, so happy that she could feel tears of her own beginning to well just a little. Because no couple she'd ever met loved each other more than Jake and Lady, they'd been absolutely inseparable since the moment they'd laid eyes on each other. And Marceline was proud to have been part of making that happen, if she hadn't bullied Jake into coming to Bonnie's Halloween party and then insisting on visiting Lady next door and extracting a promise to turn up from her then they might not have met. And that would mean a world without Kim and Charlie and Junior and their twins-

It was like a sudden tearing pain, like someone had quite abruptly stabbed her in the stomach. Marcy didn't cry out but it was a close thing; she bit back the yell from the sudden pain and instead focussed on ending the song smoothly. Dammit, that was more than just a Braxton Hicks contraction, if she had to bet she might have hazarded that it was the real deal. Of course it was happening right there at Jake's wedding, of course she was going into premature labour. Sudden panic seared through her, what could she do? Stand up and announce that she was about to give birth and ruin Jake's wedding reception? No, not in a million years. What had they said at antenatal class anyway? The first pregnancy almost always leads to a long labour, just because the contractions have started is no reason to panic. Lady had panicked the day Kim had begun making his entrance into the world and in the end she'd been sitting around waiting for hours before they'd even needed to be in the hospital. Marceline made her decision. She wasn't going to worry anyone, not when there was no reason. She'd finish playing the songs she'd agreed to do, hope her waters didn't break when she was still under the makeshift spotlight then just ask Bonnie to drive her to the hospital after. That seemed sensible. So nothing else to do but plough through; Marcy flipped to the next sheet of music and prepared to perform the strangest concert of her life.

"This is one the groom requested and I'd appreciate if you all join in on the chorus, you know the words! With my apologies to the ever-beautiful Lady, liked I said it was Jake's choice."

Possibly nobody had ever performed a more determined, more focussed piano version of Dude Looks Like a Lady. Jake could hardly dance for laughing and his bride could only roll her eyes at his childish antics. It wasn't like she didn't know what she'd been getting into before she said 'I do'. Marcy gritted her teeth against another suddenly painful contraction; this time it lasted for almost a whole minute before fading into the background but never completely going away. Four more songs, oh hell it hurt more than she'd anticipated and she couldn't do the breathing techniques she'd practised when she was singing. Three more songs, it was perfectly ok to sound a little strained when singing Billy Joel, right? He always sounded a little strained and nobody was looking at her oddly from what Marceline could tell. She rubbed her stomach soothingly between songs and tried not to let the pain show on her face. Were contractions supposed to hurt that much that early? Maybe not, she'd ask Bonnie on the way to the hospital. Two more songs. No, it was getting too painful, she almost made a mistake on the bassline to You're My Best Friend and Marceline had been playing Queen note-perfect since she was small. She made a split-second decision that the final song would just have to wait, finished the last chord with a flourish and stood from the piano, almost panting against the agony.

"Thank you very much people and gentleones, it's been a pleasure!" Marcy murmured into the microphone before stepping out of the spotlight and collapsing right into Finn's waiting arms.

"What happened? You look really pale-" he started.

"Babies. Labour. Now. Oh hell, where's Bon? I need to go to the hospital, I've gotta go _now_ , it hurts so bad, where the hell is she?" Marceline snarled in reply, staring over his shoulder into the crowd.

"She's outside calling a taxi, she knew you didn't look right up there! Why didn't you stop playing?" Finn asked as he half carried her to the door, stopping to wave off a panic-stricken Jake as he came forward to intercept them.

"Didn't wanna ruin your brother's night. Hey man, uh, babies are coming. Stay and enjoy your party, come see us in the hospital tomorrow. Say bye to everyone from us." Marcy gasped to Jake as he opened the side door for them.

"You're crazy, Babygoth. Take care, good luck. We'll be thinking of you!" he called as Marceline and Finn staggered outside.

"Pervert better not be thinking of me when he's getting freaky with Lady tonight. Just cause I'm queer- _oh holy God it hurts so badly-"_

Marcy stopped walking and broke off with a small wail of pain, curling forwards over her stomach and sinking to her knees while Finn tugged her arm uselessly. Bonnie hurried over to them, pushing him to one side and crouching in front of her partner.

"You've been in the early stages of labour all day, why didn't you say anything?" she asked hurriedly.

"Thought it was- _urgh_ -, Braxton Hicks again, stressed about the wedding- _fucking fucker fuck it hurts-"_

"Finn's gonna drive you and I'm gonna wait for a taxi, ok? He's got my car keys and I'll be right there as soon as I can."

"No, Bon I can't do it without you, I can't-"

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Just hold on love, it's gonna be ok. Finn, go get the car and bring it around here, she's not getting back up."

He sprinted off to the other side of the building without a word and left them alone, crouching in the damp grass on the side of the small orchard as the last daylight faded.

"I'm terrified, Bon. What if I can't do it? I can't. I can't do this. Tell them I changed my mind, there's gotta be something they can do to stop this happening." Marcy gasped, trembling in her partner's arms.

"It's too late to change your mind now, love. And it's gonna be alright. You can do this, ok? This is what your body is designed for, and I'll be right behind you. I bet you won't even be settled into a room by the time I get there, yeah?"

"Yeah. Ok. Fuck. I'm just so scared, I'm not ready. What do I know about being someone's mother? Oh God, I can't. I can't do this, I can't take care of myself half the time. Why'd I let you talk me into this?"

"This was your idea, sweetie. I wanted a puppy instead."

"Bitch."

"Bitch who made you laugh though. Come on, love. Stand up. Finn's here with the car."

Marcy struggled to her feet again, teeth clenched and eyes watering in a suspiciously almost-crying way. Finn slammed the brakes on and Bonnie's car came to a very abrupt halt in front of them. Before the redhead could say a word about him not needing to drive like he was fighting the vehicle Marcy had wrenched open the passenger side and was trying to crawl inside. Once they'd gotten her seated and the belt was stretched to its limit around her stomach Finn revved the engine.

"Take care of her for me, Finn. I'll be there as quick as I can." Bonnie told him seriously. The blonde man nodded, all business for once, and pulled away with screeching tires into the gloom just as Marcy let out another wail of pain. Bonnie watched them go with a panicked knot of anguish pulling at her own stomach before turning and hurrying back inside to let Hunson and the other members of their extended family know what was happening.

...

" _FINN THERE ARE FLASHING LIGHTS BEHIND US AND IF THAT ISN'T AN AMBULANCE YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD."_

"I'm a police officer, it's fine. Just, hold on. I gotta pull over."

He almost hit the kerb when he turned the feather light steering wheel harder than he needed to but still succeeded in wrestling the sports car to a halt on the side of the road. Next second a very familiar looking uniformed officer was rapping on the window and Finn was grinning up at her.

"You know why I pulled you over, s- Finn?"

"Hey, Fi! Saturday night road duty, you pulled the short straw alright. So, yeah, I jumped a red light. Sorry."

"Fuck, dude, sweet ride! This a few steps up from your usual bucket of rust! What is this beast, a custom built F-type Jaguar? How the hell are you affording this?" Fionna breathed, staring at the sleek sports car in awe.

"She's not mine, belongs to a doctor buddy. Dude, I'd sell my one remaining kidney for one of these babies though. Always wanted to give it a spin but until tonight Bon wouldn't even let me sit in the driver's seat-"

"ARE THERE ONLY TWO FUCKING COPS IN THIS ENTIRE CITY? FINN. HOSPITAL. NOW!" Marcy interrupted in a voice like thunder.

"Oh, right. Sorry. You remember Marceline, the girlfriend of my buddy who was getting stalked?" he asked sheepishly. "Her twins are on their way! And I was the only one sober enough to drive."

She had just enough time to grab his wrist before the next contraction hit; Finn was certain he felt the bones grind together and his vision went a little dark with pain for a moment.

"Oh, wow! Ok. We'll get you to the hospital as quick as possible then. Follow my squad car, I'll put the sirens on and we'll clear the way." Fionna nodded, before sprinting back to her vehicle and getting back behind the wheel. She sent a quick message across the radio before pulling back out onto the road in front of them and switching on the wailing siren to match the lights. Finn followed a little jerkily, still trying to figure out the finer details of driving a car so far out of his experience level. It was a bumpy ride but with Fionna speeding ahead and clearing the few other vehicles out of their way they made it to the hospital much faster, although not fast enough to spare Finn's wrist another few agonizing squeezes.

"Finn." Marcy gasped as he helped her out of the car and into the wheelchair Fionna had already grabbed for her. "Dude, I can't do this. It hurts _so badly_. I can't. Tell them I can't do it."

"You can do it! You're gonna do fine, better than fine. It's gonna be the best birth, like, a legendary and epic birth that bards shall sing tales of in crowded taverns for generations to come! You're gonna absolutely _own_ this birth, yeah? Cause you're a hardcore punk rock badass and no weak bitch Mother Nature is gonna beat you or your two awesome tiny punks!"

"You're a weirdo. I love you, man. But it hurts too much. I need the drugs, tell them I want the drugs. I changed my mind about doing it naturally. I can't. Oh _god_ I'm dying, it's killing me-"

She cut off with a wordless wail of pain as another contraction hit and Finn took the opportunity to wheel her into the building and right up to the front desk. The receptionist took one look at him in his fancy suit and Marcy writhing in pain in the wheelchair and pointed along the corridor.

"Delivery suite is at the end opposite orthodontics, I'll call ahead and get a room reserved for you. What's her name?"

"Marceline Abadeer. Thanks!"

And he sprinted off, pushing the wheelchair haphazardly in front of him and yelling at the few people ahead of them to get out of the damn way.

They arrived breathless and on Marcy's part grey faced from pain at the delivery suite and the midwives immediately wheeled them into a private room. The first thing they did was give Marceline a face mask hooked up to a gas and air tank and she took a deep, grateful breath and sighed in relief as a weightless, dreamlike sensation washed over her. The pain hadn't gone but it was distant and almost disconnected from her, she had no idea why she hadn't wanted pain relief when she'd drawn up her birth plan. Something about being afraid to pollute their unborn children with chemicals and Lady managing to deliver two beautiful, healthy twins naturally and within about an hour from labour starting. Although Bonnie had pointed out plenty of time that Lady had already had three kids before the twins and had barely managed to keep the tone of 'I'm so smart, I'm a doctor, just do what I tell you' out of her voice. But what kind of mother could Marcy expect to be if she just gave up and took the easy way when things got hard? She contemplated that while taking another lungful of wonderful, pain relieving gas. Probably a smart one? She hated when Bonnie was proved right but the redhead had also made the very good argument that dying at thirty from toothache was also 'natural' but not something to be romanticised.

Another contraction hit without any warning and suddenly the gas and air wasn't helping _at all;_ Marcy seized Finn's arm in both hands and squeezed as hard as she could, biting down hard on her bottom lip to keep from screaming. Probably it didn't last longer than a minute but they both had tears in their eyes by the time Marceline could speak again.

"Finn." she said in a very serious, quiet tone, looking him dead in the eye, "Get out there and tell them I want the drugs. I want all the drugs. Now. Go."

"But, but you didn't want drugs, you said if Lady could do it naturally you-"

"Did I fucking stutter? _Get me the drugs_. Or I swear to God I will break your fucking arms."

It was the soft, quiet promise of violence in her voice and the look of cold blooded murder in her eyes that drove the point home. One second Finn was sitting comforting his friend while she tried to tear his arm muscles off his bones at the peak of a contraction and the next he was up out of his chair and hurrying outside to the midwives' station.

"Hi, um, I feel sorta weird asking this? Because I'm cop and... look, can she get some drugs? Like, the good stuff. She's in a lot of pain."

"I'll come have a look in a second, sweetheart. Which room?" the plump midwife asked with a friendly smile.

"Room four, Marceline Abadeer." he replied in relief, before reluctantly turning away and heading back.

"Drugs?" she gasped the minute he entered the room.

"The midwife's on her way, she said she'd just be a second."

"I don't want them in a second, Finn. I want them now. Is that too hard for you to understand? Do you need me to _crack your fucking head open and carve it into your brain with my fingernails?_ Because I swear, I am in so much pain, right now I-"

"Hello sweetheart, how are we doing?" the midwife interrupted from the doorway, smiling around at them.

"It hurts quite a lot, would I be able to get something for that?" Marcy replied in a very polite voice. Finn gaped at her.

"Of course, we'll sort you out with something after I have a quick look to see what's going on. We need to get a Doppler on and listen to your little ones' heartbeats and have a quick feel of your tummy to see how they're lying, ok? And is this Dad?" she smiled to Finn.

"No, God no, not in a million years. I'm just a friend." he replied, horrified.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are you expecting anyone else? A birth partner?"

"My girlfriend's on her way as soon as she can get a taxi. Saturday night. And Finn was the only one who hadn't been drinking to drive me here, there were only two seats in the car. We were at his brother's wedding." Marcy explained, indicating her fancy jacket and Finn's formal suit.

"Well let's have a look and get you some pain relief before she gets here. Lift your legs up sweetheart, I need to see how dilated you are."

Finn turned away in absolute horror a moment too late. Suddenly he was a whole lot less keen on having kids; maybe he could talk to Phoebe about adoption instead. Thank God they'd stopped him before he could propose. Bonnie was right, that was something they'd need a very serious discussion about first.

…

"Marceline Abadeer?" Bonnie gasped breathlessly when she arrived at the midwives' station at a sprint.

"Room four, they're just getting her set up with some pain relief now."

Bonnie was already shouldering the door of delivery room four open when her brain caught up with her ears. Pain relief? Marcy had been her usual stubborn self about having a totally natural birth but the redhead was honestly relieved she'd decided to do something to make it easier on herself. At least, until she opened the door and was greeted by her girlfriend's glassy eyed, distant smile.

"Bon! Hey! 'm having babies." Marcy slurred from the bed. "N Finn's... NOT the Daddy!"

"Oh hell. They gave her opioids." Bonnie sighed, dropping into the chair next to Finn.

"I dunno, they looked up her skirt and felt her stomach and gave her a shot in the thigh. They said she wasn't dilating much yet and it would still be a while. I, uh, Bon I didn't mean to look. But they pulled her skirt up when I was still turned this way. Please don't be mad." he replied, still rather shaken.

"I could care less about you looking up Marcy's skirt when she's in labour, Finn. I guess it was probably pethidine they injected her with? She's ridiculously sensitive to opioids, you should have seen her when they took her wisdom teeth out. Prepare to deal with stoned out of her mind Marcy for a while. You ok, sweetie? I told you I wouldn't be long." she added to her partner.

"Yeah. I feel _good._ Like, uh, my feet are sorta... floating? N, hey, Bon, d'you know what they call a car park in America?"

"Uh, no?"

" _Parking lots._ Like... lots of what? Lots of parks? Dun't make sense. But, like... car _parks_... like... where you take your car to play with other cars... like dog parks..." she broke off into tipsy giggles, eyes rolling a little under the influence of the medication and humming happily.

"Is she gonna be like this for long?" Finn asked worriedly. "She's been saying all kinds of crazy stuff. Um, like, she's mad at Australia for not knowing punk? I dunno man, I just agreed. Then she tried to make me have some gas and air."

"Did they give her the shot just before I got here? Could be a while, pethidine will stay active in her system for two or three hours. Did they say how far through her labour she is?" Bonnie asked worriedly. She was already glancing through the charts on the end of the bed and examining the Doppler equipment sounding two healthy infant heartbeats.

"Dunno, just that she wasn't too dilated yet. Bon, I love you both, you know that. But I can't hear all these details of Marcy's lady parts, it's freaking me out. I should head back-"

"You gotta _stay."_ Marcy commanded him from the bed. She was frowning, pinning Finn with her most serious glare.

"But-" he started.

" _Stay. Sit._ Good boy."

Finn sighed and sank back into his chair.

"You really need me here?" he asked. Marcy nodded eagerly.

"Yes! Gotta have a Finn. Y'my _lucky man._ Get it?"

"No." Finn muttered under his breath, just

quietly enough for Marcy to not hear him. She turned her dazed smile back to her partner, reaching out a little drunkenly to touch Bonnie's face.

"Y'know? You look so pretty today. Like... a... tropical island. An I love you, yeah? Like, I _love you._ I'd do anything for you. Even that thing Meatloaf won't do f'love."

"Ew, anal?" Finn asked with a disgusted frown.

"What?" Bonnie was looking between the two of them, confused.

"It's that famous Meatloaf song, 'I would do anything for love, but I won't do that'. Everyone's always trying to guess what 'that' is, I think most people agree it's anal sex. And you two are disgusting, by the way. I didn't know lesbians even do that. Urgh. I wish I could bleach out my brain." Finn replied.

"We don't, and thanks, by the way. I was so hoping we'd find time for a conversation about lesbian anal sex somewhere during the birth of our children." Bonnie replied with a sarcastic eye roll. Finn just shrugged uncomfortably.

"Hey! But, um, but I was thinkin about a thing though. Bon? Did y'ever wonder... right... if, if Mozart and Salieri were... more than just academic rivals? K, but like, I could ship them. It'd be so cute. Lil composer boyfriends... in Vienna... doin' the Meatloaf thing for love..."

"No, sweetie. Nobody but you ships Mozart and Salieri." Bonnie soothed tiredly. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say though, because Marceline's face crumpled into lines of tearful sadness.

"Why r'you _kink shaming me_? I din't even do _anything_." she replied sadly, lower tip trembling a little.

"Honey, that isn't what kink shaming means. Just... try to think about something else, ok? Are you excited to meet our babies?"

"Mhm. But we can't call him Erik, Bon."

"Because...?"

"Erik dies. In t'song. _I heard there's a symphony playin you to sleep when you drown..."_

"Right, I have no idea what you're talking about but, ok, not Erik. Do you have any other suggestions?"

"Mmm. Another prince name, he's my lil prince."

"You were dead set against prince names."

"No, I never said. Uhh... prince names..."

"How about Charles?" Finn piped up from his corner.

"Jake's already got a Charlie." Bonnie pointed out. "What about George?"

"No. He needs _both_ his ears." Marcy replied with a frown.

"William, then."

"He's _bald."_

"Harry?"

"I don't wanna die from Voldemort." Marcy replied decidedly.

"Edward?"

"No. No vampire babies. Too... twinkly..."

They slipped into thoughtful silence for a while, each raking their brains to think of prince names. Suddenly Marcy sat up, grinning. "He's gon be called _Philip_."

"Ok... I can live with that. Philip. It's pretty." Bonnie agreed with a smile. It wasn't a name she'd have picked herself and it was quite old fashioned but that sort of thing was getting trendy again and besides she'd treated kids with much weirder names in her medical career. Philip was certainly not the worst name Marcy could have set her heart on and when her partner's face was still pale and strained from pain Bonnie couldn't find it in herself to argue. She just nodded and squeezed Marcy's hand comfortingly when another contraction started.

…

Two hours of completely bizarre conversations later and the medication was beginning to loosen its grip a little. Marceline was still in agony, still crying out with each contraction and still not dilating more than a couple of centimetres. Finn was napping fitfully in the corner and Bonnie was getting increasingly concerned. It had been many years since she'd done a rotation in obstetrics and maternity as a student but from what she understood contractions shouldn't be so painful and frequent without an increase in dilation and labour progression. But then she wasn't an expert in birth and the midwives seemed happy to let Marcy wait for now. Finally, at almost half past eleven, a midwife lifted the sheet for an examination and nodded in relief.

"There we go, you're dilating like a champ now. Let me have a quick feel... Yep, you're about five centimetres, another five to go and then we're ready to have some babies. I think I can feel your first one's head through the membrane; they're getting ready for you to dilate a little more and they'll be here in no time. Just need your waters to break and then it'll all go quite fast, I think. Ideally we do need your waters to break first though, do you want me to try doing it manually or just move around and see if it happens on its own?"

"I think I'd prefer to move a little first, my back really aches." Marcy replied, still quite drowsy from the pain killers.

"Do you want some help walking around the room?" Bonnie offered, jabbing Finn in the shoulder until he jerked awake from his corner and stared around with bleary eyes. He stood and offered his arm to help her up from the bed on the opposite side to Bonnie.

"Yeah. Thanks, guys. Not sure how easily I can walk right now."

Births were messy, everyone knew that. And they were unexpected; for every birth that went to plan there were countless others that ended up being the direct opposite of what the mother wanted. Already Marceline had completely abandoned her soothing mediation music and hadn't even lit the aromatic candles. It had taken all of about half an hour before she gave in and requested drugs to ease the pain despite being so loudly in favour of a completely natural birth. But even Bonnie with all her medical experience hadn't been expecting what happened next. As Marcy swung her legs to the floor and Finn helped her stand there was a faint noise like a water balloon popping followed immediately by a steady, thick gush like someone had switched on a tap. Everyone looked down at the same time; Finn made a small whimper and promptly fainted back into his seat. Not that anyone was paying any attention to him.

"WE NEED AN EMERGENCY TEAM IN HERE STAT!" the midwife yelled at the door. Marcy was still frozen to the spot, staring down at the floor in horror and clinging to her girlfriend's arm to keep herself upright.

"Am I supposed t'bleed that much?" she asked faintly.

"Just lie back down, we're getting some doctors to come help." Bonnie replied as softly as possible around the silent scream trying to rise up through her chest. All the words she wanted to say were stuck in the back of her throat, held there by absolute soul-deep terror and the instinctive urge not to scare her partner any more than was necessary. Because no, there shouldn't be that much bleeding. It shouldn't look like an entire bucket of blood had been overturned onto the floor. Suddenly the unusually painful early contractions and slow dilation made sense; it had been the internal bleeding that had prevented the dilation hormones being as effective as they should. That was why Marcy had looked so pale and why the pethidine had affected her so strongly. Through her shock and terror Bonnie was absolutely furious with herself; what was the point in spending all those years in medical school if she was going to miss that her own girlfriend was suffering birth complications and internal blood loss? But there was no time to hate herself, no time to do more than squeeze Marcy's hand again as the room filled up with medical staff. A cannula had already appeared in Marcy's arm and a nurse was hooking up an IV blood bag before Bonnie had even really started to warm back up from the shock.

"We're gonna take you up to theatre as soon as the anaesthetist gets set up, ok sweetheart? It'll be like, a couple of minutes at most. I need you to sign this." a slim, tanned doctor told Marcy as she held up a clipboard with a consent sheet attached. Bonnie vaguely recognised her as Dr Elizabeth Franks, not someone she'd ever really had many dealings with but the redhead had attended a barbecue she'd hosted a few years ago and she seemed pleasant enough. Now Bonnie could only hope she was competent, too.

"I can't see it properly, it's blurry." Marcy murmured weakly as she squinted at the form.

"It's a consent form for an emergency caesarean section. I can sign it for you." her partner supplied, taking the chart in shaking hands. "They need you to sign to say you approve of any medical decision they make for the twins while you're asleep because I can't give parental consent until the paperwork is back from the lawyers. They'll need to put you all the way under because it looks like it's gonna get a little complicated, ok sweetie? But I'll be there the whole time, I promise. It's gonna go fine. You'll go to sleep for a while and wake up and our twins will be here."

"N you won't let anyone hurt the babies?" Marcy asked in a faint voice, eyes sliding closed.

"I'll protect them with my life. Can I sign the form?"

"Uhuh. I didn't want it this way, y'know. Didn't want surgery or, the drugs or... I failed."

"I know you didn't want it like this. But it's gonna be ok, you're not a failure, love. Just save your strength, ok?"

As Marcy was rushed out of the room and up to surgery Franks explained to Bonnie that it appeared that the first baby's shoulder and not their head that had been pushing on the cervix. One twin was trying to exit sideways and their sibling was trapped behind them and becoming increasingly distressed from the contractions. The second baby's placenta had partially detached and caused the internal bleeding along with the increased pain during early labour but the blood had all been held inside due to the pressure of the first baby's shoulder lodged in their mother's mostly undilated cervix. It was almost like she'd forgotten how to understand medical language; Bonnie just nodded mechanically to show she was listening while Finn squeezed her hand and tried to control his shivers. He stayed in the waiting room recovering from his fainting fit while Bonnie was prepped to enter the surgical theatre, wearing green scrubs over her bridesmaid dress and feeling hollow, like someone had scooped out all her insides and feelings the moment she'd realised that her worst fears were coming true and the labour was getting dangerous and complicated. She wouldn't be assisting, she was just there to witness the birth of their children. And she couldn't be in the room while Marceline was put under anaesthetic; she had to watch from the observation window until given the signal that it was safe to enter. Marcy caught sight of her through the glass and waved, managing a weak smile while the technicians fluttered and fussed around her.

"So you're Sugar's girlfriend, huh? She's fierce, a really excellent doctor. You must be very proud." one of the techs announced, drawing Marceline's stunned gaze from the table of terrifying looking medical equipment they were wheeling in.

"Whu? Oh, yeah. Bon's awesome." she replied drowsily.

"Are these your first babies?" he continued in a friendly, distracting tone.

"Yeah. Last too, pro'lly. This is too scary. Wish I had my Hambo."

"Hambo?"

"M'teddy bear. Foster Dad gave him t'me when I was first in care. I was too scared to sleep, just seven n I didn't understand."

"Ok, Marceline, I'm gonna put this mask over your face and I want you to just breathe normally. I'm gonna count down from ten and I want you to count with me. Think about when your little ones are old enough to play with Hambo, think about all the good times that are gonna happen. Alright? Here we go, count down. Ten."

"Ten." she replied, trying to focus on that first night at Simon and Betty's when the plush red bear had been waiting on her pillow.

"You thinking about your teddy bear? Good. Nine."

"Nine."

Hambo had been there for all the lows and highs, all the big moments in her life after that. The first time she'd seen Daddy again after going to Simon and Betty's, she'd come home and hugged Hambo and whispered to him that she hated her father and never wanted to see him again and she didn't know why he couldn't have died instead and left her mother alive. It took years for her to overcome the shame that memory still caused; Marceline had been well into her teens before she'd stopped actively wishing Hunson dead.

"Eight. You still with us?"

"Eigh- eight. Mhm." It was getting hard to reply though, despite all her terror Marcy was finding it hard to keep her eyes open. She knew she needed to be unconscious before they could deliver the twins but her instinct to stay present and know what was happening was too strong to deny.

"Seven."

"Ss- s'n"

What had she thought, that their son would have Bonnie's eyes? Or their daughter? Marcy couldn't remember properly and it bothered her. What colour were Bonnie's eyes? Green or blue? She knew they were paler than her own muddy hazel-green but the memory just wouldn't swim to the surface through the clouds of anaesthetic. But they were sweet, Marcy knew that. The sweetest eyes she'd ever seen. She hoped their babies would have sweet eyes too, even if they weren't related by blood.

"Six."

Marcy could barely hear the technician's voice or the beep of her heart monitor over the rushing in her own ears. She didn't remember closing her eyes or giving in to the overwhelming exhaustion suddenly filling her. Then she didn't remember anything at all.

"Five. Four. Three. Two. One. She's under, let Sugar know she can come in."

Bonnie was in the room in a second, by her unconscious partner's side as they intubated to help keep her airways open and the surgeons prepared to make their incision. Nobody was watching the clock anymore, nobody saw the second hand tick past midnight. But it wasn't the last day of Marceline's thirty sixth week of pregnancy anymore; past midnight it was technically the first day of the thirty seventh week.


	37. Week 37

**Hey! So! Umm, sorry for the cliffhanger on the end of the last chapter? I'm a little bit evil sometimes, I'm not a Slytherin for no reason ^^ But here we are, the chapter you've been waiting for.**

 **Yes I know it's called 40 Weeks and this is only week 37. But it will cover 40 weeks of time, I never said the pregnancy would 100% last for 40 weeks exactly. Sneaky.**

 **I'd like to tell you all a little story here though, about a woman in pretty much the same situation with her unborn child turning up early and yanking at the umbilical cord until they tore the placenta and caused her life threatening blood loss. Guess you could say I've been trouble since the day I was born. But anyway I borrowed elements from my own birth story for this, which was nice because it lead to a pretty sweet conversation with my mum about how I was born and stuff. Try it, I bet your parents would be pleasantly surprised to talk about when you first came to them and how they felt at the time.**

 **Note, a nappy is what we in the UK call a diaper. Idk, we're weird.**

 **Content Warning; medical stuff (pretty standard at this point, right?), Terry Pratchett references, drama, Madigans.**

* * *

Time wasn't working right for Bonnie; everything was numb and unreal like she was watching a memory or a dream. The words of the medical team flowed around and through her but they took too long to filter into her brain and make sense.

"Doctor, this haemorrhage is getting worse. We need to try to stabilise the mother's blood pressure before she bleeds out completely."

"Transfuse another unit, we can't do more until the babies are delivered. Ok, I'm through the surface layer and about to incise the uterus. Standby with suction, please."

"She's going into shock. You're gonna need to work as fast as you can so we can deal with this bleeding."

It was hard to imagine how things could go worse, medically. As much as Bonnie hated herself for it she was simply a helpless passenger in her own brain as the surgeons battled to save her family, there was nothing she could do to help and she was trapped with her own tortured thoughts. And apparently her mind, unable to deal with the sheer volume of raw terror coursing through her, had chosen to focus on something else. Her thoughts had retreated as far from reality as they could; cast around wildly and landed on that fantasy book series Marcy loved, for no other reason than because she'd left one of her books on the coffee table a few days previously. Bonnie had been unable to take that series seriously but nevertheless had stood in line all day to get Marcy's favourite book autographed by the author as a birthday present a few years previous. There'd been a lot in that book that the redhead hadn't been terribly interested in but one thing that stuck with her was the idea of what the author had called the Trousers of Time. Really they should have been called the Trousers of Choice but they were just a metaphor for the infinitely branching divergent alternative reality theory of quantum mechanics anyway. Every choice, intentional or not, created another alternative timeline where the other options had been chosen instead and things had ended up different. And so in the book the main character had accidentally tumbled down the wrong 'trouser leg' of time, followed the wrong path and made the wrong choices and ended up in a parallel reality very different from his own. As the surgeons called for more blood to transfuse, ordered a neonatal crash cart and had a defibrillator on standby in case Marceline went into cardiac arrest from the heavy blood loss and medical shock Bonnie wondered if their choices were saving the three lives she held more dear than anything else in the world. The redhead watched with eyes harrowed by anticipated grief as they hooked up yet another blood bag. Eight units, so far. The average human body only contained about twelve units of blood; Marcy was more than halfway to bleeding to death from what turned out to be a severe placental abruption. And Bonnie watched as her heart monitor flickered and blood pressure dropped steadily, wondering which trouser leg they were heading down. She was certain it couldn't end well, not with that much blood loss. But emergency obstetrics was something she knew very little about apart from the basics she'd covered in her student days. All she could do was wait helplessly to find out how many funerals she would be organising, whether she was going to lose everyone she loved on what should have been the most wonderful night of her life. Would she be going home a grieving single mother of twins? Just one baby? Would she spend the rest of her life helping a broken Marceline come to terms with the loss of one or both of their precious children? Worst of all, would she simply be going home alone and forever be carrying the three open wounds in her chest where her heart used to be? Bonnie didn't know how long she'd survive without them, she suspected it would be just long enough to put her affairs in order and amend her will before hooking up a garden hose to the exhaust of her car and waiting to close her eyes and see her family again. Losing everyone in one single sweep was probably more than she could live through.

"I know you can't hear me but please, love, pull through this. I don't know if I can cope alone." the redhead whispered into her partner's unconscious ear.

"SUCTION! Jesus, hook her up to another unit! The blood's just running straight through, hurry it up!" the surgeon called frantically.

And that was when a random memory from med school presented itself front and centre in Bonnie's brain, pushing past the numb blanket of terror and horror to make itself heard. Oxytocin was a hormone released during and after birth that helped control blood flow and contraction rate during delivery, it helped the mother and baby bond and it reduced blood flow to the uterus once the baby was born.

"Oxytocin." the redhead announced breathlessly to the surgical team. "She needs oxytocin, it'll help slow the bleeding."

"Sugar, for God's sake, you're not an obstetrician and you're not even on duty. Just let us do our job." the surgeon snapped without taking his eyes off his delicate work.

"But the oxytocin will-"

"She's already on oxytocin!"

"Then up the dose! Give her more, fuck's sakes, she's bleeding to death!" Bonnie screamed.

"Out. Out of our operating room, wait on the ward but we can't delivery your children with you screaming at us! Out!" he roared back. Next second a burly orderly had manhandled her from the chair by Marcy's head and Bonnie was dragged out of the room, still yelling that they needed to give her partner more oxytocin.

The last words she heard before the heavy doors swung closed behind them were;

"Ok, standby. Here comes the twin number one. We've got... Male Infant Abadeer, delivered at twelve minutes past midnight exactly. God damn Sugar, who even let her in here to start with? Thinks she knows everything. Fetch another oxytocin infusion and don't say a word to her about it. She's insufferable enough as it is."

A thin, high pitched wail hit her ears and Bonnie slumped in partial relief.

"That's my son." she told the orderly, dazed and amazed from hearing his first cry and still so terrified because she didn't know how it would all end. She barely even noticed she'd slumped down next to Finn in the corridor outside the delivery room.

"She's still bleeding heavily but they're giving her more hormones and blood to try to control it. And our son is born. I heard his cry, he's alive and he's crying." Bonnie muttered to some inquiry from her friend. Then she collapsed onto him and hugged him tightly; it was all she could manage to do. But for the first time since that gush of far too much blood when Marcy's waters had broken Bonnie felt a faint spark of hope that things might end well after all.

...

It wasn't really like waking up normally. There were no dreams and no awareness of the process of waking. But Marceline very slowly realised that she was lying on her back and her throat hurt like someone had been scraping it with broken glass; those were the only two things she could quite manage to comprehend at first. Next came the awareness that her eyes were closed and she was uncomfortable, much warmer than she liked to be in her own bed. And there was a scent, a very familiar scent that meant something bad must have happened. After an indeterminate amount of time she placed it; hospital scent. It was the subtle odour of sheets that had been washed so many times they were thin and grey, industrial cleaning agents and antiseptics, the slightly sharp and fuzzy smell of a hospital ward. She'd been periodically waking up in hospital since she was four years old; Marcy recognised it even though she had no memory of eating garlic this time. She didn't have much memory of anything though and for a dizzying moment she wondered if this was what waking from a coma felt like. Or perhaps it was just a terrible hangover, her head certainly felt like it might be. What had she been doing?

Jake and Lady's wedding. Oh, yeah she'd been at their wedding, right? So maybe she'd eaten something with garlic on the buffet? Her head was pounding and throat was on fire; Marcy tried to lift her arms and was alarmed to discover they barely moved. She opened her eyes a little and squinted through the blur of light. Yep, those were cheap Styrofoam ceiling tiles and anonymous halogen strip lighting overhead, she was either in a hospital or for some reason had wound up in a poorly funded public school. Her mind whirred, trying to piece it together.

Wait. She couldn't be hungover. She was pregnant, she hadn't drank in weeks. Suddenly Marceline's eyes flew all the way open as adrenaline surged through her. She was _pregnant,_ she couldn't risk having an allergic reaction! But when she tried to lurch unsteadily upright it was to discover an unexpected flare of pain in her lower abdomen and oh God, her bump wasn't there, it was nowhere near as big as it had been, _something had happened to the babies-_

"Where'r m'... what's happened?" she rasped, throat screaming from the pain and vision swirling dangerously.

"Shhh. She's sleeping."

She turned her head and focussed blearily on the figure who'd shushed her. Bonnie was in the chair next to her hospital bed with her eyes red and ringed from exhaustion, holding a tiny doll wrapped in the elephant print fleece blanket TT had bought for them. Marcy stared at her, not understanding yet.

"Mummy's awake, little one. Do you wanna say hi to Mummy?" the redhead asked the doll quietly. And it moved and so did something in Marcy's chest, something huge and warm and full of a deeper love than she'd felt for anything else in her whole life.

"Is- is that my baby?" she gasped.

"They put you under for a Caesarean section, there were complications. I was really scared for you, love. You bled a lot and you had to have a transfusion. It might take a little time for you to remember it all since you were stoned on opioids and then unconscious. And this is Ingrid, our daughter. She looks so much like you. Say hello."

"Hello." Marcy managed to murmur around the shock. "Can I hold you?"

"Are your arms working properly yet? Come here, we'll hold her together."

Bonnie scooted closer and laid the baby carefully against Marcy's chest, holding her gently in place and helping her dazed partner wrap her arms securely around their tiny daughter. It was a feeling Marcy didn't know how to describe or process, like her whole world had suddenly just burst into colour for the first time and what she thought had been a full spectrum before had just been different shades of grey. She was crying softly before she'd even managed to focus her eyes on her daughter's face.

"Sh-she's so beautiful... Bon, we have a daughter. Where's Erik?"

"He was having a little bit of trouble getting a full breath because he's small, so he's on the neonatal ICU. Don't worry though, as soon as you feel well enough we'll all go see him. He's just fine, he needed a little bit of extra oxygen and some medicine to help his lungs develop and he'll be fine. Ok? Please don't worry, love." Bonnie soothed.

"But, you're not worried about him?"

"Not at all. I did a lot of worrying when they were delivering the babies, I was really scared for you and I didn't deal with that too well. I didn't know how it would turn out but it's all fine, you know how melodramatic I can be. You're fine and they're fine and we have two healthy children and each other. I'm still high on love and relief." the redhead replied tearfully. She was holding Ingrid carefully in place, arms around Marcy and hugging them both like they might just disappear at a moment's notice. Any other time Marceline would have noticed the reluctance in Bonnie's voice when the redhead said she 'didn't deal well' with her fear and would have pushed to know more. But she was still so dazed by the tiny life in her arms and the after effects of medication and hormones. So she simply laid her head tiredly on her partner's shoulder and let out a sigh of pure contentment.

"High on love. Yeah. I love you so much. And I love them. I love the whole world. Can we go see Erik now?"

Ingrid woke as she was temporarily being placed in the cradle by her mother's bed while Marcy was helped into a wheelchair to make the short journey down the corridor to the neonatal ICU. Her tiny red face crumpling into misery was the single most heartbreaking thing Marceline had ever seen and no matter that she was nauseous from the anaesthetics still and her abdomen hurt every time she moved it was impossible to stop the overpowering instincts screaming at her to comfort her baby.

"Love, sit down. I'll bring her to you." Bonnie told her softly as she put a steadying hand on her partner's arm. "Here, come on. Mummy's got you."

The baby quieted as she was cradled in her mother's arms and felt the familiar thrum of the heartbeat that had been the first thing she'd ever heard. She let out a tiny sigh and relaxed against Marcy's skin.

"Poor thing, she misses her brother. But we're gonna go see him now, aren't we darling? And I bet he misses you too, I can't wait to cuddle you both. You're the sweetest baby in the whole world, look how beautiful you are! Ingrid. That's your name, darling. Ingrid Erin Marceline Sugar. Don't worry, you'll grow into it. Look how tiny your little hands are! Yes, those are your hands, and that's your little mouth. Are you hungry, darling?"

At least Ingrid had no problem latching on to feed despite her mother's lack of knowledge about how it was done. They'd covered breastfeeding in antenatal class but it was a completely different thing to do in reality than when the friendly community midwife explained it with a doll. Marceline had been expecting it would hurt more but she was still full of hormones; it just felt like the most natural thing in the world to feed little Ingrid. And the expression on her face as Bonnie wheeled them down the corridor was blissful, more peaceful than anything Marcy had ever seen. Who knew the simple act of feeding a baby could be so overwhelmingly beautiful? Her eyes were tearing up again before they'd even entered the room where their son was waiting for them.

Finn was still there, sitting by the special incubator talking to his new nephew and gently stroking his tiny face through the side opening. He looked around and grinned proudly when he saw the new family approaching.

"The doctors said I should stay and talk to him, so he knows he's not alone." the blonde man whispered. Marcy nodded distractedly, eyes never leaving the tiny red face of her son. He had a thin tube taped across one cheek to gently blow extra oxygen into his nostrils and someone had swapped out the little blue hospital-issue baby boy hat for a hand knitted white one with stumpy bear ears that looked suspiciously like it had come out of his uncle's pocket.

"Hello, Erik. It's Mummy." Marcy said to him quietly as she slid her hand into the incubator to touch her son for the first time. He moved his head a little, flopping it slightly to the side she was at like he recognised her voice.

"About that. We didn't sign any paperwork yet because you need to do it but, uh, how much do you remember after they gave you the pethidine shot?" Bonnie asked carefully.

"Honestly not as much as I'd like. I remember singing to myself and trying to imagine the contractions were waves I was swimming through. And I remember _someone_ fainting when I started bleeding a little, dude I thought you were a tough ex-military cop?" Marcy replied with a distracted smile for Finn.

He looked over her head to Bonnie the second her eyes slid back to the two babies and they silently agreed that Marceline didn't need to know quite how close to bleeding to death she'd been. It would only upset her and right now she had enough to worry about without dwelling on the fact that three quarters of the blood in her body had to be replaced by emergency transfusion. The less she remembered about almost dying the better.

"Uh, yeah, guess I got a shock." he replied awkwardly. "But, you were pretty insistent we didn't call this little guy Erik. You said that it was bad luck or something."

"But Erik's your name, isn't it, beautiful little man? Oh, did you see that? He yawned!"

"Actually we were calling him something else for the moment, until you woke up, to see if it fit him. You wanted to call him Philip." Bonnie supplied softly. The baby boy squeezed Marcy's finger in his tiny fist much harder than she'd realised an infant just over an hour old could and that settled it, really. He obviously liked the name.

"Philip. Yeah, it suits him. Philip Erik Finn Junior Sugar."

"Yes!" Finn crowed, punching the air in victory.

"Since I'd have ended up giving birth in Jake's new kitchen without you and you were such a good sport about me threatening to murder you." Marcy grinned. "Hey, did they say if we can take him out of the incubator for a bit? I really need to cuddle my newborns now."

So long as Philip was wrapped up warmly and still had his oxygen tube attached the nurses agreed it would be fine for him to cuddle up with his parents and sister, even try to feed. He wasn't as keen as Ingrid to latch and mostly just wanted to nap so in the end Marcy was content to lay him on her chest and feel his little heartbeat through her skin. Finn took hundreds of photos to show Jake and Lady, although Bonnie drew the line at him filming Ingrid's first nappy change. Marcy looked exhausted but radiant in every picture and was unable to take her eyes off the newborns, Bonnie was red eyed from crying but almost bursting with pride for her children and partner and of course the babies slept through the whole thing once their tiny stomachs were full and they were safely cradled in their mothers' arms. Marceline dozed in the wheelchair by Philip's incubator despite Bonnie insisting they go back to the maternity ward and Ingrid had her very first milky sick up onto the shoulder of the beautiful bridesmaid dress her Mama still wore although she really didn't care at all. As the windows began to lighten just a little from the approaching dawn Finn yawned into his hand and stroked a finger lovingly down his niece's cheek.

"Well little gorgeous darlings and bigger gorgeous darlings, I'm gonna head home and see where my own special lady ended up, check how things went at the reception after our escape. Will you be going home soon?" he asked tiredly.

"Yes." Bonnie replied at the exact same moment Marcy said "No."

"We've got to stay, you said they were keeping Philip for a bit until his lungs get stronger." she frowned.

"We can't just take up a bed on the maternity ward for as long as he's here, and we live a ten minute drive away, love. We'll come in and see him for visiting but for now he's gonna be mostly sleeping anyway, he needs to rest and get stronger." Bonnie replied gently.

"No, he needs his Mum and his sister, he'll get lonely." Marcy insisted, twisting her shoulder away from her partner's hand.

"We can't just camp out in neonatal ICU either. As soon as he's discharged we can bring him home but it might be a few days or a week, maybe even more depending on how he responds to the steroids. But come on, sweetie, we can't keep Ina here either, she needs to be at home."

It was logical and Marceline hated it soul-deep. How could it be right to leave her tiny newborn son alone in hospital while they took his sister home and only came to see him for visiting? Before they were born Marcy hadn't stopped to consider how she'd feel being apart from them but now the prospect of being separated from her babies was terrifying. She was sobbing before she even realised why. Bonnie shifted Ingrid to her other arm and gathered her into a gentle hug, careful not to pull the fresh stitches on her partner's stomach.

"He'll be fine, love. He's a fighter. But we can stay today and go later, you don't need to leave yet. Ok? I know it feels awful to leave him alone here but I promise you he's in the best place. Hey Finn, you still got those car keys?"

The blonde man held up the key with a nod, making as though to hand them back and staring in confusion when Bonnie shook her head.

"I've got a deal for you. I assumed we'd be at home when labour started and obviously that wasn't the case so all our baby things for hospital are still in the nursery. There's a house key on there too, I need you to do something for me. Head back to our place, grab the bag of baby things, get Hambo from under our bed and bring them back here. In return, you keep the car. As a thank you."

"But- what?" Finn stammered.

"I'm gonna need a four-seater, I want to drive these little marshmallows around too. And I was thinking of getting rid of it soon anyway, so why not give it to the hero of the hour? Keep it, it's yours. Just remember it needs an oil change a little more frequently since it's a high performance engine. And fetch the bear and the baby stuff." she told him with a weary smile.

"But your car." Finn protested, still struggling to understand. "It's like, the fanciest car money can buy. And you can't just give me a car, I mean... can you?"

"I can sell it to you for the princely sum of a single pound, to make the paperwork legal. It's easier than trying to sign it over to a new owner as a gift. But that's fine, it's yours. Just go get that stuff." the redhead replied, waving him off and already turned back to the twins.

Finn stumbled out of the ward confused, exhausted and dazed. But happy, he was pretty damn happy.

...

The morning brought Hunson and TT and the biggest bouquet of flowers Marceline had ever seen. She thanked them tiredly before turning attention back to Ingrid, marvelling at her daughter's blue-grey eyes and her impossibly tiny fingernails.

"She's just perfect. Oh Pumpkin, I'm so proud of you." Hunson informed her in a suspiciously tearful voice.

"She definitely has your lungs, Daddy. She's got a cry like a little foghorn. Woke up half the other babies on the ward this morning when she wanted her feed, didn't you little cutie-pie?" Marcy cooed to Ingrid, feeling her face pull into the same aching, besotted smile she'd worn all morning whenever her eyes slid irresistibly back to her daughter.

They all trooped down to the neonatal ICU again to see Philip and the second they were through the doors his sister started fussing. She wasn't hungry or wet and she'd just woken from a nap; Marcy was at a loss to figure out what was wrong.

"Give her here, love. I might be able to help." Bonnie told her, obviously just as exhausted as her partner but still smiling warmly when the writhing bundle was carefully placed into her arms. "See, one of the things I learned to do in paediatrics was a particular hold to help calm unsettled babies. Like this. Just put her little arms across her chest like this, and hold her gently on her front, support her little bottom and her head and- there, see she just wants to get rocked like she did before she was born, don't you sweetheart?"

"Voodoo. Freaky baby doctor voodoo. You're amazing." Marcy breathed, staring up from her wheelchair as Ingrid magically quieted and relaxed into her mama's hold.

"See this is how she was lying in the womb, she just wants to get comfortable how she was. And you can rock her gently, it mimics the motion of when you'd walk about with her in the bump. Come on darling, we'll take a little walk and let your Granddaddy meet your brother. I bet there are some kids up on the ward who'd love to meet you." Bonnie added to the baby lying trustingly in her careful hold.

She said her goodbyes to Hunson and TT and promised three times to an anxious Marceline that she'd be absolutely fine taking Ingrid upstairs for a little while to say hello to Lydia and Angela and anyone else hanging around Paediatric Oncology. Ingrid fell back into a light doze on her shoulder as the redhead carried her down the corridor towards the elevators and the baby curled a tiny fist into her mother's hair.

"You recognise my voice, don't you sweetheart? I'm the one who used to read to you before you were born, you don't know it yet but I'm gonna show you the whole universe. You and your brother, as soon as you're old enough, we're gonna get a telescope and I'll teach you about the stars and the planets and all the wonders of the cosmos. Because you and Philip and your Mum, you three are my stars and moon, you're my whole world. Do you wanna come see where Mama works?"

It wasn't like she was expecting a reply but Ingrid sighed in her sleep and wiggled her legs a little and Bonnie broke into a huge grin, unable to contain the simple joy that holding her daughter filled her with. The second Lydia caught sight of her walking up the corridor towards reception she covered her mouth with pudgy hands and made a sort of quiet high-pitched squealing noise.

"Oh my God _oh my GOD_ they're here! Can I hold the baby? Is this the girl or the boy? Is Marcy ok? And the other baby? Are you ok? Oh God this is so awesome, come here little one, I'm your Aunty Lydia, oh you're so cute!"

"This is Ingrid, Marcy's down on Neonatal ICU with Philip. He's a bit smaller and his lungs are a touch under developed so we've got him on oxygen for a while." Bonnie told her quietly, carefully handing over the sleeping baby and watching the way Lydia's face lit up.

"She looks just like Marcy, doesn't she? She's got the same kinda face. And so much hair! You're a hairy baby, aren't you?" Lydia cooed. It was true, Ingrid's head was covered with a fine down of silky black hair just like her Mum. The baby opened her eyes but didn't cry, content to simply gaze up at them with unfocussed little eyes.

"Good morning beautiful. This is Lydia, she's Mama's secretary. And this is where your Mama works, I come here to be a doctor and help poorly children get better." Bonnie informed her daughter with a smile.

"Good luck staying home from school when you're not really sick, kid." Lydia added. "So tell me everything, how'd it happen?"

Bonnie explained about Jake and Lady's wedding, about how Marcy had helpfully ignored being in early labour most of the day and how Finn was now in possession of her sports car and she couldn't even find it in herself to mind.

"And then it all got a bit scary. She was bleeding internally and nobody knew, I thought she was just out of it from the medication. But when her waters went... Lyds, I've never been more scared. There was so much blood, I've not been able to stop thinking about it. I thought your throat going dry from fear was just a myth but it turns out it actually happens. So they rushed her up to theatre and these guys had to be delivered by Caesarean. There was so much bleeding, I thought she wasn't gonna make it. And I, um, I got panicky and yelled at the surgical team and got thrown out of the delivery room. I haven't told Marcy that part yet because I don't want her to stress about how much blood she lost and also I'm a coward. I wasn't there to see them being born but then neither was she. If I hadn't pushed them to infuse more oxytocin it might not have ended well, so I stand by my decision. I just don't know that she'll see it that way." Bonnie sighed.

"You know what though? There are two tiny people alive right now because of you. Wait until Marcy's got a baby on each boob and her hormones are making her love crazy and then if she must know, tell her. She'll forgive you." Lydia replied knowingly. "Trust me, I've looked after plenty of kids before and I know how new mothers are. Her brain is all mushy and hormone mental. She'll probably forget all about it soon enough."

"I hate to admit it, Lyds, but you're probably right. Well then little lady, shall we go back to Mummy? I think someone will need a feed soon enough."

"Aw look, she's smiling!" Lydia cooed, grinning down at the baby she was still holding.

"She's half a day old, she shouldn't be smiling yet. Unless she's pooping-"

Lydia hurriedly handed the baby back with a look of absolute horror on her face a moment before an indescribably terrible smell hit their noses and an unhappy wail broke from Ingrid's mouth.

"I'll see you later, Lyds. Say hi to everyone. Come on sweetie, let's get you cleaned up. That stink is worse than your uncle Jake makes when he's hungover, how are you managing to make such a nasty boom boom with such a tiny tummy?" Bonnie sighed, heading for the baby changing table in the restrooms.

…

Saying goodbye to Philip and going home with just one baby a couple of nights later was a special kind of hell, Marcy decided. For the longest time she sat cradling him next to his incubator, talking to him in a quiet voice and telling him about Peppermint and Cinnamon and his nursery and everything he'd get to enjoy as soon as his lungs were strong enough. He wasn't responding to the medication quite as well as his doctors had hoped and it seemed like he'd have to stay in hospital a while longer. But Finn had brought the baby things and Hambo as promised so now the baby boy was cuddled up next to the old red bear; at least he smelled like home and was an expert at comforting lonely children. But it wasn't the same, Marcy wished more than anything that she could stay too and put Ingrid in the incubator with him so they could be together and have their mother close by. Moving around was still difficult with her Caesarean wound and Philip hadn't really taken to breastfeeding yet, it was painful and difficult for them both. She'd expressed as much milk as he'd need overnight and the nurses were all wonderful with him but it was still a wrench to drive away from the hospital knowing he was alone for the very first time in his life at only three days old.

The only thing Marceline wanted to do when they got home was get into her own bed, put Ingrid skin-to-skin against her chest and try to ignore the terrible ache of missing Philip. Bonnie was more than willing to look after her, even going as far as offering to cook. Marcy assessed her with a long gaze that plainly told the redhead what she thought of that plan.

"Or take out, I can get us take out." Bonnie amended hastily. Before Marcy could reply the doorbell rang and she rolled her eyes.

"Tell them to go away. I'm tired and I feel like crap and my stomach aches like a bitch. I don't care who it is. Tell them to leave." Marcy grumbled.

Bonnie sighed and pressed a kiss to her partner's forehead before getting up and going down to answer the door. A familiar voice drifted up to her and before Marceline could even groan the bedroom door burst open to reveal Kim and Charlie with their craziest, most excited eyes.

"Oh, for-"

"BABY!" Charlie yelled at top volume, flinging herself into Bonnie's vacant spot on the bed. Ingrid immediately started wailing and Marceline briefly repressed the urge deploy her worst swearwords at her godchildren. What the hell did Jake think he was playing at bringing them around unannounced?

"Shhh, come on darling, they didn't mean to scare you. It's ok." Marcy soothed Ingrid who was still crying at the top of her lungs. Next second Jake's sheepish face appeared around the door too.

"Yeah, why not? It's like a bloody petting zoo in here. Come on in, bring your kids, prod the baby just when I got her off to sleep. Who needs peace or quiet or privacy?" Marcy groused.

"Guys, what did I say? Aunty Marcy is tired and the baby was sleeping, go back downstairs." Jake told his children with a stern frown.

"She cried, Daddy!" Charlie replied happily, completely ignoring the annoyance in her father's voice.

"Yes. Crying means she's upset. Go help your Aunty Bonnie with the food." he sighed. Both kids trooped out reluctantly and Ingrid finally quietened down.

"Did you say food?" Marcy asked, annoyance forgotten.

"Yeah. Bon texted to say you were heading home and I figured neither of you would be up to cooking much. So I grabbed some stuff out of Treehouse and I tried to sneak away without those two noticing but they ambushed me and demanded to come too. I'm sorry."

"You brought food. I forgive you." Marcy sighed. "Hey Ina, Uncle Jake's here. You gonna say hi?"

Jake took a seat awkwardly on the edge of his friend's bed but seemed weirdly reluctant to look at the baby.

"What? What's wrong?" Marcy frowned when she noticed how oddly he was behaving.

"Your, um, you should maybe pull the blanket up a little higher? I know we've been friends for years but there are some parts we probably shouldn't have just flopping out wild and free around each other."

"Oh stop being a weirdo, we used to share a bathroom. You've seen my boobs plenty of times. I was just about to feed her and besides, when you're in hospital giving birth dignity is something that happens to other people. But sure, if the fact of me having anatomy upsets you then I'll cover up."

Marcy pulled the blanket a little higher until Jake let out a relieved sigh.

"Thanks. Just, I don't think Lady would be terribly happy about you flashing me." he replied.

"Lady has had five babies, if anyone understands then she does. Anyway. You wanna hold the munchkin?"

Jake and Lady had visited in hospital the day after Hunson and he'd already met his niece and nephew but Marceline knew how much Jake adored babies. He held his arms out eagerly and gently cradled Ina, who gazed up at him blankly.

"She looks so much like you." he said, repeating himself from his previous visit.

"Yup, everyone says so. I think she's much more beautiful than me though. Better skin for sure. Looks like her hair is coming through a little curly though, I guess that comes from the other side of the genetics."

"She's just gorgeous."

"I know. I've already spent hours lying there watching her sleep thinking how amazing it is that I made her with my body. Look at that little face. That's my baby, it doesn't feel totally real yet."

"You wanna know a secret though? That feeling doesn't ever completely go away. Sometimes you'll just be hit with this wave of how amazing they are and how you're the luckiest parent alive to have these perfect little humans in your life. You think you love Bonnie but trust me, if you were under attack you'd use her as a human shield to protect them without a second thought. And she'd want you to. Welcome to parenthood, it's terrifying and also the most amazing thing ever. You're gonna spend the rest of your life living for your kids and not regretting it for one second."

Marcy sat up with a wince against the soreness in her abdomen, not even caring that the blankets shifted again, and carefully hugged her best friend in the world. He understood. He put it into words when she was struggling to even wrap her head around it all. And more than anything Marceline appreciated right then just how much love was in the world and how many different kinds. There was the deep romantic love she felt for Bonnie, the love she had for Hunson and for her foster parents, the overwhelming surge of unconditional and unbreakable love she had for her babies and the platonic love she had for Jake and Finn, her chosen brothers. There was so much love around the place, how had she never noticed before?

"I broughted you rice." Charlie announced from the doorway, balancing a tray of food while Kim and Bonnie followed with various condiments and a glass of water.

"You're a very thoughtful princess, Charlie. You wanna come help your Daddy cuddle your new cousin while I get some food?" Marcy replied with a smile.

She'd already forgiven the intrusion from earlier, Charlie and Kim were just excited and enthusiastic. If their father and uncle were any indication they'd never grow out of that and people would love them for it. Bonnie handed her a shirt to slip into before taking her own plate of rice to the dresser because the bed was full of Madigans. Perhaps they were slowly fusing into the same person after all because the redhead was also thinking about how much love the world contained and how amazing their extended family was, even if they dropped by without warning. Family were like that, though.


	38. Week 38

**Crash! Boom! Lightning, midnight, organ music! Week 38 has gone all Gothic Horror! At least for the first part. So yes, I was rereading the original manuscript of The Woman in Black and yes I am easily influenced. Well, I couldn't resist tipping my hat to it a little. Besides, who doesn't love them some horror tropes? Not what you were expecting after Week 37? I do enjoy trying to be unpredictable** **As ever I apologise for the delay in posting. My immune system must be screwed because I'm sick _again_. I meant to finish this three days ago, I'm so sorry guys. It literally needed the last 500 words adding and it would have been ready. Forgive me?**

 **So as y'all may have noticed I am now working on other projects! I have a few shorts upcoming as well as Desperate Measures, and I was planning a small sequel to this story set about five years after the end called Now We Are Five. So much fluff planned for that, because _five year old twins._ But I am not done with this ship yet, not by a long shot! Watch this space. There are gonna be spies and planes and rockets and snowdogs and physics and so much more, oh myyy! But as ever, drop a review or a PM or something, let me know how I'm doing, I will love you forever I promise.**

 **Content Warning: Gothic Horror tropes, traumatic memories, not too graphic surgical descriptions which have been edited to take out some of the grossness. You're welcome.**

* * *

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind almost like nature itself had a sense of dramatic irony. The occasional rumble of thunder and howling wind shaking the windows had woken them all more than once and nobody was at their best. Marcy was functioning purely on hormones; they were all that were getting her through the first week with Ingrid at home especially since she was struggling to move around with the Caesarean wound on her abdomen. Bonnie was functioning purely on caffeine and that wasn't nearly as effective. Even still, beyond the haze of zombie-like exhaustion that went deeper than the redhead had ever known before she was increasingly worried about her partner. If she'd stopped to analyse it further then she would probably have come to the conclusion that it was more about herself and her lingering guilt over not having fully disclosed the traumatic birth details than anything Marcy had or hadn't done. But in her confused, sleep deprived state Bonnie wasn't really thinking straight either. Any other time she would have realised she was projecting her own worries and something textbook psychological was happening. But at four in the morning when Ingrid was screaming yet again and Marcy was exhaustedly trying to change and feed her and muttering to herself Bonnie's only half awake brain immediately interpreted that as something Very Not Good.

Eventually Marcy took the baby through to the bathroom and the sounds of running water coupled with another peal of thunder and flash of lightning brought Bonnie more fully awake. Why was Marcy running the bath taps? Why had she taken Ingrid with her? Muttering to herself was generally a bad sign, wasn't it? Postnatal depression was a thing, it was definitely a thing. Or even postnatal psychosis, that was rare but it could happen. She remembered hearing stories as a junior doctor, about women who'd drowned their children in a psychotic trance when sleep deprivation and birth hormones mixed in the wrong way. Bonnie sat bolt upright in bed in a sudden panic, disorientated and terrified and not completely certain why but convinced that Marcy wasn't in her right mind and something terrible was about to happen to their week-old daughter. The redhead lurched out of bed and down the dark hall. The slight breeze from the open window stirred the flimsy Chantilly lace curtains that huge their large stained glass window and as she passed them a cold gust caught the redhead's exposed skin as though ghostly hands were reaching out through the darkness to her; Bonnie should probably have realised then that her imagination was getting a little out of hand and it wasn't her partner who was suffering the worst from the lack of sleep. She stumbled away from the window and into the bathroom as quickly as she could, blinking and squinting through the bright light. What she saw when her eyes focussed made her blood run cold.

There was Marcy, standing pale and ethereal in front of the bathroom mirror like some sort of beautiful and deadly fallen angel with Ingrid fussing on one shoulder. And she was holding the very sharp barber's scissors that Bonnie used to trim her fringe between haircuts from time to time. For a split second it was like she was standing frozen with terror as King lifted the knife up towards her face again.

"Sweetie, what are you doing? Just, give me the scissors, it's ok." she soothed in as calm a voice as possible. Marceline whipped around to stare at her.

"It's not ok, though. I'm sick of this, Bon. I can't keep doing this. I know you won't forgive me any time soon but I gotta. Ok? I gotta do this. I'm sorry."

"NO!"

Too late, she'd raised the scissors and as Bonnie watched in paralysed horror lifted them to her own head and-

Sliced off her ponytail. The long sheet of waist length hair fell to the floor around her feet as Ingrid began wailing once again from the sudden yelling.

"I'm so sick of having to wash baby sick and poop out of it, Bon. Like, four times today. Even if I tie it back, it flops over my shoulder. I'm sorry, babe, I know you like it long but I feel like I'm just constantly washing crap out of it. I should've listened to Lady and cut it before they were born."

Bonnie sagged in relief and stepped forward to wrap shaky arms around her partner, wondering what the hell was wrong with her for thinking anything else could be happening.

"I don't care if you cut your hair, love. I just... I got a fright." she muttered against the shoulder her face was pressed into.

"Did silly Mama get a fright, huh? She's a big silly, yes she is. Ingrid thinks you're a silly." Marcy informed her with a tired smile. Bonnie just let out a sharp sigh and hugged tighter.

"She's right. I am definitely a silly. I was scared you were gonna hurt the baby. I don't know why, I guess just because working in healthcare you hear horror stories and stuff, and- and then I saw you holding the scissors and-"

Marcy hugged her back one armed while Bonnie tried to repress a sob. She should have expected something like this, she reflected. Bonnie was wonderful, so focussed and an amazing doctor and very specialised in her field, but also once she got past a certain level of stress she went straight through practical and sensible into full-on mental without really going through any middle ground.

"Is it because of all that stuff with King?" Marcy asked carefully as she guided the redhead back to the bedroom and laid Ingrid down between them on the mattress.

"I don't know. Maybe? I suppose that's still in my head too, I have got a lot of worries about blades and sharp objects now. But. I, uh, oh hell I suppose I should just tell you. You were unconscious in the hospital so you don't remember and the medical staff didn't seem too concerned with filling you in at the time but, love, you lost so much blood." Bonnie sighed, avoiding her eyes.

"I know. I had a transfusion, you said. I figured that was normal with a c-section though, right? I mean, they had to slice my stomach open, it'd be weird if I didn't bleed." Marcy frowned.

"You didn't just bleed from the incision. You had a placental abruption; part of Philip's placenta ripped from the wall of your uterus and you were bleeding internally for hours before anyone caught it. You were out of it with the meds so I guess you don't remember how bad it got. But when your waters broke it was almost all blood. I don't know how you even managed to have that much blood loss and still be conscious. Love, you nearly bled to death. And, um, I got scared, I yelled at the surgeons and I got thrown out of the delivery room before the babies were born. I thought I was gonna lose you and I didn't think they were trying hard enough to save you. I'm sorry." Bonnie admitted in a small voice.

Marceline didn't reply for a long time. Her eyes were on Ingrid lying between them in the bed, kicking her legs and wiggling a little in the fuzzy bumblebee onesie she'd been put down to sleep in. She was indescribably precious, Marcy thought distantly. So tiny and so fragile and so completely and utterly dependent on her parents for everything. And maybe, just maybe, that was a little like how Bonnie saw her, too. She was aware that the redhead had something of a God complex, tended to see other people as less competent and capable or just less of an adult than she was. And the shameful part of Marcy often liked that Bonnie looked after her and sorted all the bills and made all the important stuff happen so she could focus on her music and her nerdy pursuits; it made her feel secure and security was something that Marceline had put a premium on since her own messed up childhood. It was completely in character for Bonnie to have kept something like her partner's near-death to herself until it grew so heavy on her subconscious that it exploded out in a sudden burst of bizarre behaviour like irrationally worrying that her girlfriend was going to drown or stab the baby.

"One of these days you're gonna have to start trusting me to make adult decisions for myself, babe. If I almost die I kinda need to know." she finally sighed.

"I wanted to tell you but there didn't seem like a good time. And you were so worried about Philip and I wanted you to bond with them both. I'm sorry, love. Are you mad at me?" the redhead whispered. Marceline shook her head, no she wasn't mad.

"I think I'm too tired to be mad at you. But come on, I thought we'd talked about not keeping stuff from each other? "

"We did. And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I just didn't want to worry you."

"But I want to be worried by stuff like this, babe. I need you to trust me to deal with stuff the same as you, I don't want you to be a single mother of three. Yeah? We're a team, and now we're a team raising a pair of tiny people who need us to present a united front. And Ina's asleep again, oh look at her she's so beautiful."

"She's just like her mother. The most beautiful girl in the world."

"Talking about yourself, Bon?"

"Don't make me come over there and kiss you for being cute, I swear I'll do it."

"You'll fall asleep mid-kiss. Lie down and close your eyes, babe. You look beat. I'm gonna take this little lady downstairs for a while since I'm weirdly awake now. I'll come get you when it's time to head in for Philip's visit."

"Mm. Love you."

Marcy pressed a quick kiss to her partner's forehead, gathered Ingrid into her arms and cast a glace around the room to check she hadn't forgotten anything. Her gaze landed on the battered paperback on Bonnie's nightstand; The Woman In Black. Good thing Marcy didn't make any noise when she rolled her eyes since the redhead was already snoring quietly. How many times now had Marcy told her that her Gothic Horror obsession would come back bite her in the ass? Reading crap like that before bed was just asking for trouble.

Bonnie was deeply asleep before Marceline had even made it back out of the room and for the first time since they'd taken their wiggly little girl home from hospital she slept deeply and peacefully without interruption or any more nightmares about creepy dark haired girls, lesbian vampires, demonic apparitions or any other trashy Gothic Horror tropes.

...

In the light of day it was pretty easy to see how dumb Bonnie's night terrors really were. Almost, but not quite, as dumb as Marceline's DIY haircut.

"Sit still or you're gonna end up even more lopsided." the redhead sighed. Marcy wriggled around on the dining room chair just to spite her, laughing when her partner sighed in frustration.

"I could give less of a crap how my hair looks, babe. All I care is that it no longer falls over my face when I'm trying to change our babies." Marcy replied with a tired smile. She really didn't want to sit and let Bonnie neaten up the trim but her girlfriend had insisted she look at least passably presentable before they went to see Philip.

"Well I think that's about as even as I can get it for now. It's... you look very nineties. You just need a stake and a crop top and you're rocking the whole Buffy The Vampire Slayer look." Bonnie said after a couple of minutes of silent trimming.

"Yeah cause I'll totally be showing my midriff in public like, _ever again,_ babe." Marceline grumbled as she got up with a wince.

The wound on her stomach ached constantly and the stitches pulled every time she moved despite constantly dosing herself with the painkillers she'd been given when she was discharged from the hospital. A week later and the wound itself looked worse than ever; bruised and scabbed over, swollen and covered in stitches that still needed to be removed. It was to be expected from a week old surgical wound and Bonnie insisted it was healing as well as could be hope but she looked more like Frankenstein's monster than ever, Marcy thought sourly. Still as she cradled her daughter and carefully secured her in the back of the car she was more than aware of how completely worth it the caesarean had been, she'd have let the doctors cover her entire body in badly healed surgical scars if it was for the safety of her children. And from what Bonnie had said in the early hours of the morning it seemed as thought she'd been in more danger than she'd realised. But death in childbirth was incredibly rare in most developed countries; Marcy was still quite sceptical that it wasn't just Bonnie being under the effect of a few glasses of champagne, adrenaline and her usual tendency to assume the worst. As exhausted as she'd been she hadn't forgotten the expression on Bonnie's face when she'd noticed the scissors and unlike her partner Marceline had no problem connecting that with what had happened with King.

Bonnie was quiet on the drive to the hospital but she seemed at least better rested than she had been for the first week. Marcy had ended up napping on the sofa for a few hours with Ina asleep in her carry cot on the floor next to her; she'd woken to find Cinnamon purring quietly with his head resting lovingly across the baby's legs. Peppermint had barely been home since the first time he'd heart Ingrid cry but Marcy was confident he'd get used to it once he got over not having all of Bonnie's attention all the time. She'd noticed him skulking around the garden when she'd been fixing a quick breakfast so she knew he was still about the place, glaring at them like they were the worst kind of traitors.

They pulled up at the hospital and Marcy waited in the car for Bonnie to fetch her a wheelchair from inside; she still wasn't up to walking through the labyrinth of corridors to Philip's incubator. He was doing better though, his lungs were stronger every day and he was drinking his way through bottles like they were going out of style. Marcy was sore and tired from how much she was having to express for him, it was difficult enough breastfeeding one baby without having to constantly have a weird suction machine strapped to her chest to feed the other one. But he hadn't been breastfed since birth with having to be in the incubator so he'd never really developed the ability; it would be difficult now to restart. Before the birth Marcy would have felt like a failure if she couldn't feed both her babies in a completely natural way but now she was just glad they were both doing fine and were getting all the milk they needed by any means.

There was a familiar voice lilting over familiar words as they approached the ward doors; Marcy was grinning before she even caught sight of her foster mother's face.

"She did not shut it properly because she knew that it is very silly to shut oneself into a wardrobe, even if it is not a magic one. Oh hello darling, we've been expecting you." Betty finished, looking up when she caught sight of them and laying Marceline's much loved copy of _The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe_ to one side. "And there's my favourite granddaughter too, hello Ina!"

"Are you gonna wake up for Grandma?" Marcy asked Ingrid, stroking her cheek and smiling when her daughter opened her eyes.

"You know, I still get this burst of warm pride in my chest when I hear that. 'Grandma'. I never thought I'd ever get to be anyone's grandmother, it's every bit as wonderful as I'd heard. How are you, darling?" Betty asked, leaning forward to kiss Marceline on the cheek before taking Ingrid in the arm she wasn't cradling Philip in.

"Sore, tired, wouldn't change it for the world. How's my little man doing today?" Marcy cooed to Philip who waved his arms at the sound of her voice. "Come here then my little prince, I've missed you so much!"

Betty handed the baby over and Marceline immediately snuggled him into a close hug, taking a moment to breathe in his wonderful scent and just bask in the fierce bloom of love that reverberated through her chest when she held her son. Then she frowned, noticing something different about his little face.

"Why isn't he getting his oxygen? Where's his tube?" she asked, not quite registering what that must mean.

"Because he's strong enough to breathe on his own now, aren't you little darling? The nurse said they were just waiting for the consultant to sign his discharge paperwork and then we were going to call you and bring him home. Simon's fetching some coffee while we wait." Betty beamed. As though he'd been waiting for his cue Simon stepped around the door with two paper mugs of coffee in his hands and his face split into a massive grin when he saw them.

"Ah, the whole family's here! Little fella's ready to come home with his mummies and get made a fuss of!" Simon announced proudly. He handed one coffee to Betty and another to Marceline before nodding in Bonnie's direction and marching straight back out the door again in search of more coffee with a happy smile still making his beard twitch. While Betty and Bonnie caught up and chatted about the babies Marcy snuggled Philip closer to her, holding him against her chest so he could feel her heartbeat.

"You're coming home with us today, little darling. We're finally all going to be together, it's going to be so wonderful. Me and your Mama, we love you two so damn much. You're the most loved babies in the whole world."

...

Their first visit from the community midwife went off with only the small hitch of Cinnamon trying to climb into her handbag and it was only a routine check up to confirm that everything was going to plan with the twins being home anyway. After she left and the babies had finally gone down for a nap Marcy was left feeling weirdly awake, probably because she was finally allowed to drink coffee again and had been easing herself back into it to avoid a caffeine crash. She was probably going to be exhausted soon enough anyway but just for a while it was nice to feel like her eyelids weren't desperately trying to force themselves shut.

"Why was she so concerned anyway? I mean, we have all the stuff, she got to see you handle a nappy change – well done on that, by the way. We're definitely rocking this new parents thing." Marceline concluded with a nod.

"Because I think a lot of new parents come home with this whole 'oh God I have a baby and I don't have anyone to tell me how to look after them' attitude after the midwives and nurses help so much in hospital. But I think with Philip needing to stay behind we've maybe missed that. And they seem to well behaved, I think we might have been lucky." Bonnie replied with a tired smile. She hadn't taken an almost nine month break from caffeine and it wasn't having such a strong effect on her, she was still exhausted.

"Don't say that, babe. You'll jinx it-"

As if on cue the baby monitor flared to life with first one high pitched wail and then another. Bonnie closed her eyes and rested her head back on the sofa with a frown.

"Nope. Not going. I fixed the worst poop yet, I can still feel it burning my nostrils. Besides you seem very energetic. Go, Batwoman. Gotham needs you." she muttered.

"I'm Wonder Woman, bad fake nerd. Sure, just give me a minute to get upstairs. I've almost forgotten what being able to walk normally is." Marceline sighed before she winced in anticipated pain and bit her lip against the flare of agony from her abdomen when she stood. Probably Philip was hungry again, he seemed to like having small but regular feeds whereas Ingrid would just keep drinking for hours then go into a deep sleep for hours more.

By the time she'd gotten Ingrid to settle from being disturbed by her brother's crying it seemed easier to just take Philip back downstairs with her anyway which was why he was squirming in her arms when the knock at the door made her look up in surprise. It was Finn and Phoebe with yet more flowers; they had mentioned they might drop by but Marcy had forgotten because her beautiful little babies had been so much more important. She waved them in since the door was unlocked and they all trooped through to the lounge, starling Bonnie out of her doze on the sofa.

"Oh, hey guys. I thought you were gonna call ahead?" she asked, standing to greet them.

"We did. Your phone still on silent?" Finn asked as he flung himself down next to her.

"Oh. Probably, sorry. That would explain it."

"And how's my littlest man? Are you liking it at home?" Finn cooed to Philip.

"He's hungry, I think. I'm still trying to get him to feed. You don't mind if I feed him now, right?" Marcy asked, not even stopping to think about it.

"Sure, go for it. I mean, little guy's gotta eat- uh... Oh... I, um, I thought you meant..."

"I'm trying to get him to take to breastfeeding, it's easier and better for him." Marcy replied distractedly as she unbuttoned her shirt. The complete lack of reply made her look up after a minute. Finn was staring at his shoes and his face had gone bright red while Phoebe looked like she was going to explode into laughter at any second.

"What is wrong with Madigan boys? I'm using my anatomy for its totally normal, natural purpose. The baby's hungry and I'm feeding him, on the sofa in my own home. Stop making it something weird or sexual, it's just baby food." Marcy sighed with an eye roll.

"You should have seen him at the hospital, he was so scared I'd be mad at him for accidentally seeing when the midwife lifted your skirt. Because mid-labour and in agony is exactly how all men fantasize about seeing naked lesbians." Bonnie added with a fond smile for their mortified friend.

"Didn't want you to call me distasteful again." Finn muttered, still blushing for all he was worth.

"Is Uncle Finn distasteful, my little snuggle bear? Yes he is. Are you a hungry tiny man? Come on, you latched earlier, don't tell me you forgot how to do it." Marcy sighed with a wince as Philip completely failed to do anything but gum and wiggle.

"Marcy, can I ask you something?" Finn asked after a couple of awkward seconds.

"Sure. I already know it's gonna be something personal, you've got that tone of voice going. Why not? It's not like you could just google it."

"Does it hurt to, y'know, do that?"

"To breastfeed? A bit, yeah. Imagine jamming one of the most sensitive parts of your body into the tiny, gummy mouths of greedy little milks monsters ever few hours day and night until you're sore and the skin is a little cracked and half the time they feel like they're practising chewing instead of drinking. It hurts. But the expressions on their faces when they feed, oh man I wish I could take photos that wouldn't be ninety percent boob. And it's a good feeling to know we're bonding like that. The only reason people are weird about it is because we fetishize breasts in this society, breastfeeding was literally the only way to feed a new baby for hundreds of thousands of years. There's nothing unnatural or dirty about it so-"

"Love, I think he gets the point." Bonnie interrupted gently.

"I spent the last two years reading every website, magazine and book I could find about early years parenting. He got the condensed version." Marcy sulked.

They were chatting about what had happened at the wedding reception after Marcy, Bonnie and Finn left for a good chunk of the afternoon. With hindsight it seemed obvious that with Lydia's obsessive thirst for built blonde men and natural attraction to sass that someone should have been keeping her as far away from Tiffany as possible but at least for Phoebe the night had ended with a very drunken receptionist bawling her eyes out in the bathrooms because he was just too perfect to be allowed to be gay. Once the alcohol had worn off and Lyds had recovered from the hangover she'd gone on a marathon shopping spree with him and they were now apparently best friends. She was planning on heading out to his hotel during the summer to help choose fabrics for the champagne room and meet the hot straight brothers of some of Tiff's exes. Ingrid woke up and started crying too so by the time the story ended both twins were being cuddled on the sofa.

"Hey, can I use your bathroom?" Phoebe asked politely, before being guided down the hall by Bonnie while Finn slid closer to Marcy on the sofa.

"You're planning on getting her to stay in the country by showing what a great father you'd make with the twins, aren't you?" she hissed the minute their respective girlfriends were out of earshot.

"I'm crafty like that." he replied with a covert wink.

"It was Jake's idea. Wasn't it? Come on, dude, this plan has Jake written all over it. Did you talk more about her moving away and how you would or wouldn't do long distance?"

"Not completely. She said she's still weighing her options. I just wanted her to see me being a good uncle with these guys first, so she knows I'm down for a family of our own."

"You're not exactly being subtle, man. But I saw the way she was smiling when you handed Philip to her. It's not the worst plan ever. Just, don't rush into anything, ok?"

"Jake got Lady pregnant literally the first night they met." Finn replied with a slight sulk.

"And if you think for one second that I didn't threaten to castrate him for it then you're dead wrong. But Jake and Lady are weirdly perfect for each other in the sort of way mere mortals like you and I can only dream of ever understanding. They are the literal definition of 'made for each other'. Do not get Phoebe pregnant unless she expressly tells you she wants a family with you. Understand?" Marceline asked, fixing him with a serious expression.

"So now that you're a Mum you get to treat everyone else like they're a child? Ow!"

"What happened?" Bonnie asked, coming back into the room a split second too late to catch Marcy one-inch punch Finn's shoulder.

"Just Uncle Finn being a silly. Yes he's a big silly poo, isn't he, Ina?" Marcy cooed to their daughter while Finn massaged his bicep and scowled at her.

Clearly she wasn't too mature to give him one of her signature thumps when he said something a little too offensive. Marceline had promised him, back when he was fifteen and she was sixteen and she'd first bruised his shoulder for his own good, that one day he'd thank her for it. Given the number of times Finn had opened his mouth to make a smart comment only for his inner Marcy to punch him in the arm he grudgingly accepted that she was probably right. By the time Phoebe came back too he was cradling his nephew and too caught up in pulling silly faces to notice the tender look his girlfriend was giving him.


	39. Week 39

**We are close to the end guys, and I am gonna be sad to say goodbye to this journey. But I have a treat for you this week, did someone say _crackpairing_? Yeah. Even more cracky than Tree Trunks and Hunson? You be the judge, but personally I always despised Mr Pig and thought Tree Trunks could do a lot better. Anyway, that's just an aside. **

**Did you ever read those 'what not to say to same-sex parents' guides? I love those, because the moment I tell anyone "my partner and I are getting married next year" I immediately get a ton of questions about if we're gonna have kids, which one of us is gonna be pregnant, how are we gonna do it, and (weirdly, if you ask me) whether they'll call us both Mum or if they'll use our first names. Uhh... what? Anyway I chose to channel that frustration for your entertainment, so I present to you the joy that is taking small kids out in public where nosy old women can see them.**

 **And for those of you who don't know who Barry Manilow is, count yourselves lucky. He's a very uncool singer from the 70s who did a lot of those easy listening sort of tracks that you always end up knowing the words to and have no idea why. His inclusion here is in no way an endorsement.**

 **Content Warning: bad language, nosy old women, sarcasm, Barry Manilow, unexpected crackpairing.**

* * *

The first time a well-meaning old lady asked; "Oh are they twins?" Marcy replied that yes, they were two and a half weeks old, they were twins, yes she was their mother, no they didn't have a Daddy around because they had a Mama instead; "Yeah like one of those same-sex couples you read about in the paper, no they were donor conceived, yeah they have special clinics for that, no it wasn't really weird to get it done because it was a medical procedure done by a professional, actually I need to finish getting the groceries but thanks for asking I guess?"

She pushed the stroller after Bonnie who'd already wandered off to inspect the vegetable section but she hadn't gone more than five paces before someone else cooed; "Oh, are they twins?" and that set off another round of rapid-fire questions of the sort a straight parent would never be expected to answer. By the fifth time it happened Marceline had had enough.

"Oh, are they twins?"

"No, actually this one here on the left is a stunt double."

"Oh."

The old lady who'd taken it upon herself to ask gave Marceline and the babies a strange look before she hobbled off in the opposite direction.

"You don't need to be rude to people, they're just curious." Bonnie admonished when her partner finally caught up with her.

"Me being rude? They asked every bloody question up to and including if it felt strange to have a donor's sperm inserted into me! Did Lady have to put up with this sorta crap? Did anyone ask her if it was strange to get pregnant via heterosexual fucking?" Marcy fumed.

"No f-words in front of the children, please."

"They're two weeks old. They're too young to remember or repeat a single word I say, I could literally say _anything_ and they wouldn't know. Fuck fuckity fuck fuck. See? And they're still just asleep."

"Very mature. What's got you in such a bad mood? And do you wanna get a coffee first and finish the groceries after? I'm still so tired."

"The irony. I was awake for three hours this morning getting vomited on while you were snoring and _you're_ tired? Yes. Coffee. All the coffee."

Bonnie sympathised, she really did. But there was a very good reason that most of their friends had at one time or another used the nickname Marceline the Drama Queen. She really shouldn't be up and walking around that much yet anyway but like usual Marcy had insisted and like usual Bonnie had given way without much of a fight because she was just too tired to argue the point. So when Marcy sank into a seat at the in-store café with a wince and her hand pressed the surgical wound on her abdomen the redhead repressed the urge to roll her eyes. She'd be stir-crazy being stuck inside for two weeks solid, too. Instead she dropped a kiss onto the silky and newly-shortened black hair she loved so much and wandered over to the counter to order two coffees and a slice of caramel shortcake each, because Marceline deserved the small treat and Bonnie had an incurable sweet tooth.

"Coffee and cake? I should be a sarcastic, moody bitch to you more often." Marcy commented when the redhead brought their order over. It was a very subtle, very Marcy sort of apology but Bonnie appreciated it all the same.

They munched on their cake in silence and were halfway through the coffee before Marceline spoke again.

"I was thinking I should just get some business cards printed, hand them out to curious old ladies. They'll say 'Yes they are twins. No they're not identical, one is a girl and one is a boy. No we didn't dress them in pink and blue because colour coding them so that strangers know what shape their genitals are seems weird to us. Yes that other woman walking around with us is also their mother. Yes we are a gay couple. No we're not worried that they won't know what men look like, since so far as we're aware they can both see perfectly well. No we're also not worried that having gay parents might make them gay, homosexuality isn't contagious and it's not something we're especially scared of. Yes they were donor conceived. No we don't know who their donor is. No they won't call us by our first names, we're Mum and Mama.' I think that just about covers it so far but I'm sure I'll think of more later."

Bonnie nodded, turning it all over in her head. She took a drink of coffee before answering.

"You're gonna need a bigger business card."

"A flyer, then. I'll have flyers printed."

His parents' laughter woke Philip and he squirmed and fussed a little until his Mama unclipped him from the stroller and lifted him up for a cuddle. But he wasn't hungry or wet so he was perfectly happy to just lie in her arms and blink up unfocusedly at the light rusty waves of hair above him and listen to the two voices he'd known best since before he was born. It was a lot louder than he was used to with all the other shoppers rushing around them but Philip didn't feel afraid, just sleepy and a little curious. He waved a curled fist upwards and was rewarded by being lifted closer to the face above him and grabbing onto what turned out to be the end of a nose. There was that laugh again, his mother's laugh. It caused a warm flame of contented love to glow through his little body when he heard that noise; it would be years before he'd understand completely but even then he knew by instinct that he was happiest when Mum was happy too.

"Looks like someone's worked out how to play 'got your nose' already."

"He's got surprisingly sharp fingernails, don't you sweetie? Let go of Mama's nose, you're gonna pull it off. Silly boy, noses aren't for grabbing. I think he's gonna need his first nail trim already, you want me to handle that?"

"Please. I'm not confident around such tiny fingers with a pair of nail clippers."

Philip wiggled and bounced and listened to the hum of familiar voices with no idea that the sounds held any meaning beyond being comforting, the same thing he'd heard before entering this strange new world full of light and sound and new sensations. Those two voices were safety and home, he was protected and loved so long as he could hear them.

...

Of course by two weeks old it was perfectly normal for different personalities to begin to blossom. Philip was sleepy and laidback, easily amused. Ingrid was not. She'd been howling at the top of her lungs for a solid fifteen minutes for no good reason. She wasn't hungry, she didn't need a nappy change and she wasn't tired. Her parents were at a loss for what else to do; even Bonnie's magic baby settling hold didn't help. So in desperation and despite it being the middle of the night the redhead strapped their daughter into her carry seat and put her in the back of the car.

"I'm just gonna drive her around a bit and see if it helps her settle. If she's anything like her Mum it'll calm her right down." Bonnie announced tiredly. Marcy just nodded, too exhausted herself to do much more. At least Philip was still soundly asleep in his Moses basket, he was getting good at ignoring his sister's wailing. She waved them both off from the sofa before stretching out next to his basket and closing her eyes.

Since it was almost midnight the roads were pretty much deserted as Bonnie turned the car out onto the same road she'd driven down months ago with a sulky Marceline in the passenger seat of her sports car, the one that lead out of the suburbs to the coast. Ingrid's cries began to quieten down to whimpers and by the time the rhythmic pulse of the lighthouse in the distance announced they were near the shallow pebble beach Bonnie figured Ingrid must be asleep. But when she pulled up at the same spot as she had that day in the summer and went around to the passenger seats Ingrid was lying awake just staring up at the ceiling and turned her head to gaze intently at her Mama's face.

"Just like your Mum, aren't you? Come on then sweetie, we'll get you wrapped up and have a little sit outside."

Perched on one of the flat boulders that marked the edge of the parking area with Ingrid snuggled into her arms and the hush of waves lapping on the beach below them Bonnie felt more peaceful than she had all day. She lifted her daughter close and pressed a gentle kiss onto her cheek just because she could, because sometimes the overwhelming love she had for both their children couldn't be contained within her body.

"See that star over there, Ina? That's Polaris, the North Star. It's the only star in the sky that doesn't move around in the night and it's the brightest in the constellation of Ursa Minor. You can't focus your eyes properly to see it in detail yet but I bet you know there's a light over there, don't you? The Vikings used it to navigate by at night, they sailed their boats right across the North Sea to come settle here from Scandinavia. And your donor, he was from Scandinavia too. So that makes you our little Viking princess. Come to settle our green lands and steal the hearts of our women, you're already doing pretty well with that. And Oma and Opa are coming to visit you in a few weeks, as soon as we've all gotten into a rhythm. That'll be fun, won't it? I'm working on getting your Mum to agree to invite Uncle Ned to visit too, so long as he takes a bath. One day you're gonna be big enough to understand all this stuff but for now it's more important that I just keep talking so you can hear my voice. Are you sleepy, sweetheart? Shall we go home and see if Mummy's still awake? I bet she's asleep on the sofa, or feeding your brother. Let's get you home before you get hungry or need a change, shall we? Come on my little Viking."

It was a good thing they headed back when they did because by the time she'd pulled up on their drive at home Bonnie was really feeling exhausted and probably wouldn't have been up to much more driving. She carried Ingrid back inside, tiptoeing upstairs to lay her back in the cradle at the foot of their bed before heading back down for Philip too. Once both twins were deeply asleep next to each other Bonnie finally went back downstairs and slid down onto the floor next to her partner. It was so like that day almost nine months ago now, when they'd first found out that their neat and peaceful world was about to be turned upside down by tiny hands. Except that Marcy's hair was shorter, and she looked older. But not really in a bad way, more like she'd matured, maybe? Like she'd grown as a person. Bonnie frowned and shook her head, completely willing to chalk it up to exhaustion making her introspective and a little weird. She reached out and tucked a strand of silky black hair back from her partner's face and after a moment of confusion Marcy's eyes opened.

"Ina?" she asked sleepily.

"Asleep upstairs, we drove out along the coast road and back. It's past one, are you coming up to bed?" Bonnie asked gently.

"Mm, bed. Bed is friend."

They finally stumbled up to the bedroom together and Marcy collapsed onto her side of the mattress with a quiet groan. When her girlfriend joined her a few moments later she snaked an arm around the redhead's waist and towed her backwards into a tight hug.

"Is it weird that you're hot when you're looking after the kids?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

"It's actually a pretty normal response to seeing your partner interact with babies, it's something to do with instinctive family bonding and wanting to keep close after they're born, otherwise the stress of looking after them can drive couples apart. Evolutionarily speaking, you're a very yummy mummy yourself." Bonnie replied tiredly.

"Bon, can I ask you something kinda personal?"

The slight edge of anxiety in her partner's voice made Bonnie open her eyes and roll back over, gazing through the darkness to find the outline of the face she knew better than her own.

"Eight years. You are one of the few people on this earth who can ask me whatever personal questions they want."

"Right, so, like, medically? When do you think we're gonna be able to, you know, get back to... stuff?"

"Stuff?"

"Stuff. You know. Couple... stuff."

"Sex."

"Um. Yeah."

"We have two tiny babies asleep at the end of our bed."

"I didn't mean right now! Just, I sorta, I miss you. You know? I miss that closeness."

"I miss you too. And usually it's a minimum of six weeks, although I guess that's for a vaginal delivery and you had a Caesarean. So whenever you feel ready and your scars are all healed, I suppose. Is something on your mind?"

It looked like Marceline's dark outline shrugged a little, maybe like she was a touch uncomfortable.

"I just don't know how it's gonna feel. Lady said it would feel different. And I look different. I've still got a very definite belly going on, I'm covered in stretch marks and stuff... I'm worried I'll look gross. I'm not exactly the same svelte gazelle of a girl you met that night at the grad ball." she finally sighed quietly. Bonnie tugged her a little closer and pressed their lips together briefly.

"And I'm not twenty three and fresh out of med school anymore. Look, we're gonna age, and we'll do it together. You look different, I look different, our bodies change over time. That's normal for humans. Unless Jake was right and you really are a vampire." the redhead replied softly.

"You know what? I love you, babe. Like, so much more than I can tell you."

"And I love you too. You're my third favourite person on the planet after our little marshmallows. Now go to sleep, they're gonna want feeding again soon enough and you're the only one currently lactating. I'd help if I could but even if I was producing milk I doubt they'd get more than a teaspoon full out of my tiny egg-cup chest."

"I happen to be quite fond of those little egg-cups you know." Marcy replied sleepily. Bonnie took her hand and moved it back down to her hip the moment it crept northwards to try to make good on that proclamation.

"Sleep. You're tired and only two weeks post-birth. And we have babies in the room. Sexytimes can wait."

The only reply she got was a soft snore and Bonnie closed her eyes and snuggled down against her partner; it wasn't long before the whole family were deeply asleep.

...

" _Her name was Ingrid, she was a baby._

 _She liked to vomit everywhere and had curly black hair."_

"Love, please, not Copacabana. Anything but that."

" _Down at the baby, baby-cabana_

 _Naptime and passion were always in fashion."_

"I'm going to call my brother and if you're still singing Barry Manilow when I get back you'll be in serious trouble, Abadeer."

"Did you hear that, Ina? I'm gonna be in trouble. _At the baaaaaaby, cabaaaaanaaaaa!"_

By the time the redhead had stepped outside, called Ned, waited for ages before he finally picked up the phone and actually managed a very pleasant conversation with him there was a different tune altogether floating out through the lounge window and she smiled to herself as she headed back inside. The babies loved it when Marcy sang to them and if she was being truthful Bonnie did too. But the smile slid off her face and was replaced by an annoyed frown when she heard the words accompanying the tune.

" _Uncle Ned is a smelly man, yes he is._

 _Uncle Ned is a stinky man, yes he is._

 _All you babies clap your hands._

 _Cause Uncle Ned is a smelly man!"_

"Marceline. I'm serious, don't you dare go influencing their opinion of their uncle. He's the only blood uncle they have and he's so excited to meet them. He's coming up tomorrow so you've got plenty of time to practice being civil." Bonnie admonished.

"He better be clean. If he tries to come in here barefoot and smelling like a dung heap I _will_ chase him off with the garden hose. And he's leaving the dogs at home, right?"

"He's opening the kennels and letting them roam the woods for the night. Apparently they're more than capable of chasing down a rabbit or two for their dinner and Ned isn't driving all this way to turn around and go home after an hour. I said he could stay the night."

"You WHAT?"

That set off both babies howling and it was a good fifteen minutes before they calmed down enough to allow their parents to continue talking.

"I am not having that stinking hillbilly in my house all night!" Marcy hissed angrily. "You didn't even ask me!"

"Because this would have happened! He's my baby brother, he's practically your brother in law and he's so excited to be an uncle, he wants to meet his niece and nephew!" Bonnie shot back.

"He's disgusting! For God's sakes, Bon, the guy had bits of manure in his beard last time we were there! What if he makes the twins sick?"

"He's heating up some water _right now_ so he can take a shower, there's no need to be bitchy about it."

"Now who's swearing in front of the kids?"

"This. This is exactly one of those moments I wish a film crew were following us around so I had a camera to look directly into like we're on The Office. How long have you been waiting to throw that one at me?"

Marceline pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Despite all the evidence to the contrary she really didn't enjoy arguing with her girlfriend.

"Fine, he can stay the bloody night. So long as he showers. If he's gross I reserve the right to make him wash here, and use my jasmine shower gel too so he smells nice."

"Not your most gracious back-down but I suppose it'll do. I'm gonna go make up the spare room, do you wanna order dinner in?"

Bonnie was halfway up the stairs, still smiling a little smugly to herself at winning the argument so easily, before she realised that the tune she was humming happily under her breath was Copacabana and she cursed in German.

...

Ned's truck pulled up around noon the next day and Marceline stared out of the window, confused. There was a man who looked very much like her girlfriend's brother jumping down from the cab except he was clean, his beard was neatly trimmed and braided, his long red hair was pulled back in a smooth pony tail and he was wearing an honest to God suit. A new one, by the look of it. Ned must have stopped in town on his way over to buy actual twenty-first century clothes. Whatever Bonnie had said to him on the phone had obviously worked; he was even wearing shiny new shoes.

"Uhh... Bon? I think you're brother's here. And I think he had a full personality transplant." Marcy called up the stairs.

"What's that?" Bonnie asked, coming out of the bedroom with an armful of laundry.

"Ned. Outside. Clean. Suited and booted. Very weird."

"Oh he said he was going to try to fit in around our neighbourhood, he's such a thoughtful guy." Bonnie beamed. She jogged down the stairs, bundled the laundry into the kitchen and then hurried outside to hug her brother. Marcy stared after her, still confused.

"-tell you how excited I am, I made them some presents. I hope you don't mind, I spent a while on them and they should all be baby-safe. Ah, there's the new Mummy! Congratulations!" Ned beamed when he came through the door and caught sight of Marcy standing in the hall. He hurried forwards and hugged her and she awkwardly patted his shoulder, wrinkling her nose a little when she was taken by surprise by the scent of expensive aftershave that hung around him instead of the compost-funk she'd expected.

"Ned, so glad you could make it." Marcy murmured insincerely.

"So?" he prompted, still grinning from ear to ear.

"Right, babies. Yeah, they're through here. We put them on the play-mat, they're just up from a nap so they're about as lively as two-week-olds get."

She motioned to the lounge door and led him through to where Ingrid and Philip were lying on their backs on a large padded mat with Cinnamon standing guard over them like a tiny fluffy lion. He ran forward with a mewl when he caught sight of Ned and wove himself around and around the big man's legs; Ned had always had a weird magnetism with animals. After a quick pet on the head for the ginger cat Ned took a set on the floor and gazed at his niece and nephew, transfixed.

"They're _huge_." he breathed, amazed. "They came out of you? But you're so tiny still!"

"It'll be a while before I'm back into pre-pregnancy jeans but yeah, they came out of me." Marcy agreed. It was the longest and friendliest conversation she'd had with Ned in years and it felt a lot like meeting him for the first time again.

"Hello little ones, I'm your Uncle Ned. I made some gifts just for you, I hope you like them. Here."

He unslung the backpack he'd been carrying and pulled out a slightly battered box, handing it across to his sister without tearing his eyes away from the twins. Bonnie opened it curiously, smiling when she figured out what he'd made.

"Ned, these must have taken you months!" she gasped, holding up the intricately carved and painted baby mobiles. They were covered in perfectly detailed figures of dragons and unicorns, all of them immaculately outlined in vivid craft paints and edged in gold and silver leaf.

"I've got a lot of spare time in the evenings, it was a labour of love." he replied with a faint blush behind his beard. "Can I hold them?"

"Sure. Careful though, they're only just working out how to hold their heads up." Marcy replied. She picked up Philip first and placed him into his uncle's arms, tilting Ned's big hands into the right position to support his nephew.

"Hello Philip. I've been waiting so long to meet you." Ned whispered, staring down at the baby's face with unshed tears glazing his eyes. "You're absolutely perfect, aren't you?"

"He is perfect. He's our special little guy." Marcy agreed, smiling despite herself. As much as she disliked Ned it was hard to disapprove of anyone who cradled her son so tenderly and appreciated what a perfect creation he was. And then the doorbell rang unexpectedly.

"Hey. You didn't wanna call to let me know you were coming?" Marcy asked by way of greeting when she opened the door and found Keila grinning back at her.

"As if you were gonna pick up your phone anyway. I brought you baby things! Love the new truck by the way, I never figured you for the retro-maintained sort."

"It's not mine, it's Bonnie's brother's. He's here too so I guess it's a good thing you've got a baby to cuddle each. Also I should warn you, he's totally-"

"Gorgeous." Keila murmured under her breath, craning her neck to see over Marcy's shoulder and around the door into the lounge. "Woah, any chance he's single?"

"Single, weird, probably asexual and lives in the woods like a filthy hippy. So one hundred per cent not your type." Marcy replied with a sigh. "Come on in, I'll put the kettle on."

Marceline had first met Ned when he'd come up to town for the day a week or two before their first Christmas together and he'd always struck her as something of an unpleasant loner. Bonnie maintained he was a wonderful guy, they just had very little in common and he was still very defensive of his sister since the whole Shoko situation had started in her third year at university and his second. Apparently Ned had chased his sister's ex out of their apartment with a stick when she refused to let Bonnie in to get her stuff so Marcy was at least confident he was a caring brother. He'd just always treated her with disdain and only wanted to discuss eco-farming, land management and zero-carbon living, none of which were subjects Marcy had a lot to add to. She was completely expecting Keila to discover the same about him roughly thirty seconds into the conversation; her jaw almost hit the floor when the curly haired woman's face lit up as Ned described the cabin and his 'job'.

"I grew up on an eco-farm when we lived in Dominica, we only moved here when I was twelve. I miss it so much. It must be amazing in the cabin, do you see all the stars?" she asked with a nostalgic smile.

"On a clear night it's like looking up at the sky before they invented electric lighting and polluted the sky. It's indescribably beautiful, I'll never get tired of just being out in nature like that. Like... it feels like the city never gets properly dark or quiet, you know?" Ned replied, smiling back. He was making eye contact and everything, Marcy pulled Bonnie into the kitchen to 'help carry the tea'.

"What the hell is going on out there? Ned finally shows interest in another human and it's my post grad?" she hissed.

"I... I don't know what to tell you. I've never seen him like this." Bonnie replied, equally dumbstruck. They exchanged a look of pure confusion at a peal of bright laughter from the lounge and Marcy shook her head before setting about fixing a pot of tea.

"If your weird brother marries my friend and makes her go live in filth in his hairy gross cabin I'll be very upset." she muttered. There didn't seem to be anything more to say about it.

"If your post grad moves out to be with my brother and civilises him a bit and maybe shows him how to use a vacuum cleaner and shampoo, then we'll all be happy." Bonnie replied as she took four of their best china cups from the cupboard. "I thought you were all for the hippy thing, wasn't your Mum a hippy?"

"Yeah, she was all about loving the earth and respecting the turn of the seasons and the healing power of crystals and stuff. _Clean_ stuff, not... making compost from your own dung and collecting piss to dye your clothes with. That's medieval." Marceline shuddered.

"Ned doesn't dye his clothes with urine and his compost is made from vegetable leftovers. Mostly. He just lives off the land, I think that's very respectful of nature. Besides weren't you thinking of setting Keila up with Finn once upon a time? You can't think she's that awful a catch for anyone."

"Yeah, I want to keep her single for a while so she's available when Phoebe moves to Switzerland and inevitably breaks up with him." she replied.

"That's unfair, she hasn't decided yet and they might be able to make the long distance thing work. My parents did, for two years. Dad was posted to the States and Mama was still in Munich. And we did the long distance thing for months at a time when you were travelling with the orchestra. You just want to keep your friends all together in the same group, it's all a little incestuous." Bonnie sighed. She was well aware that Marcy preferred a small, close-knit circle around her rather than being part of several different social groups and still had a subconscious fear of people disappearing out of her life without any warning that no amount of therapy would fix.

"Doesn't look like we've gotten any choice in the matter anyway, they're giggling away together in there like they've known each other all their lives. Bloody hell, Keila and Ned. Who'd have seen that one coming?" Marcy replied, a touch sulkily. She'd been hoping her friend would agree that Ned was a bit weird and they could gossip together about him.

Eventually Kelia had to go, but not before she left her number and address with Ned so he could write her letters, because "the art of the letter is dying out, it'd be really cool to write you, you know?". He watched her out of sight with a smitten smile.

"Might have to come up to the city a bit more often." he murmured to his sister with a dazed smile on his face. "And she said she'd play the violin for me some time. I'm just so in awe of anyone who has that much grace and talent with something like music."

Marceline bit her tongue and managed not to remind him that she was sitting _right there_ but it was a close thing. Bonnie shot her an apologetic smile behind her brother's back and carefully changed the subject to what they might do about dinner.

In the end Ned fixed a mushroom casserole that even Marcy grudgingly agreed was amazing and he even offered to wash up. Once they were safely in the privacy of their own bedroom with the kids asleep Marceline turned to her girlfriend to try to comment on how weird the whole day had been but found herself at a total loss for words. She just shook her head, wrapped her arms around Bonnie and let the tension slowly drain out of her shoulders.

"I know." Bonnie replied to the silent woman. "I know. It was weird. But, good weird. Sleep now, worry about Keila and Ned and their free-range forest dwelling hippy babies later."

"I definitely got the best deal. Of all the Sugar siblings I've met, you're easily my favourite." Marcy replied, still unable to figure out how to feel about the strange turn the day had taken but willing to accept it as one of those weird quirks of fate. Her last thought before sleep was that there was no way in hell she was wearing a recycled hemp bridesmaid dress though, not even for Keila.


	40. Week 40

**Well, what can I say? Guys, it has been an honour, I can't even tell you. This is the longest story I've ever written and it's also one of my favourites, one that I feel has really improved me as a writer. I want to thank all the wonderful people who helped me get here, my reviewers, my readers, you lurkers who never let me know what you think, my cats, my amazing and beautiful girlfriend. It's been a rollercoaster but here we are at the final chapter. I can confirm that I've started planning a short sequel called Now We Are Five, set unsurprisingly when the twins are five years old.**

 **Now would be the time, if you were so inclined, to send me a review and let me know what you think. I can't promise I'll be able to send a reply to every single one but I will try, especially if you take the time to send something thoughtful. I love you guys so much, you are the reason writers produce stories, you know? Having readers who offer feedback makes the whole experience that much more rewarding, even if it's a long time after they finished. So, what I'm saying is even if it was a story you read ages ago, I'm very sure the author wants to know if it made a difference to you. Send them love, love is the food that sustains authors.**

 **Content Warning: fluff, surprises, fluff, historical sorrows, fluff, love.**

* * *

Leaving the twins and Marcy at home to go back to work was bittersweet for Bonnie. On one hand she wanted to stay, be with the kids, help Marcy who was still in a lot of pain from her surgical wound. But on the other the anxiety of what was happening to the department in her absence was beginning to gnaw away at her. As reluctant as she was for the end of the day and what it would bring Bonnie was at least looking forward to seeing her patients again, catching up with her colleagues and getting into their new rhythm. Marceline would be off on maternity leave for months more and was almost certainly only going back part time when she returned to work but Bonnie hadn't wanted to take too long off; that was the whole idea of going for a job share. Even still it was a wrench to kiss the twins and Marcy goodbye and borrow the Volvo to drive to work. Sooner or later she'd need to get her own car, just for convenience, but she hadn't had a chance to even think about it yet.

Work was pretty much the same as always; rushing around trying to do too many things at once, keeping a professional but sympathetic expression on her face when giving bad news, reassuring her older patients that yes, their babies had been born fine and they were both doing really well and she was back for good, just part time. Timmy Llewellyn was back for a check-up and he grinned at her cheekily before shyly confessing he'd been getting changed for swimming with the other boys at school and nobody had said anything or been able to tell any different with his prosthetic testicle. Bonnie allowed him to hug her before running off after his mother still smiling in embarrassment and she had to wonder what the hell thirteen year old boys got up to in the locker room if his friends had been close enough to examine his testicles. She probably didn't want to know, she decided.

It was the middle of the afternoon and she'd given in and broken her vow of no coffee through the day; with three week old preemie twins in the bedroom every night there was no chance of getting through a full shift at work without some kind of chemical stimulant and caffeine was the most legal one she had access to. Bonnie found a spare moment to fill her mug from the coffee machine in the staff lounge for the fourth time since lunch and her phone vibrated in her pocket; she pulled it out and smiled warmly when she discovered it was a picture message from Marcy. She'd been fighting the urge to call and ask how everything was going all day, not wanting to come across too clingy or accidentally imply that her girlfriend couldn't cope alone. Her helpless laughter caught Dr Princess' attention and she wandered over to see what was so funny.

"My partner's friend is having a 'should have been your birthday' party for the twins, today was their due date. Look, he made them little paper crowns and everything. He's the biggest goofball I ever met but he adores kids and he's so excited to be an uncle. I hope they saved me some cake."

"Is that your partner? They both look like her, don't they?" Princess agreed with a smile. The photo showed Marcy and Jake holding a baby each wearing a little handmade crown of golden card.

"They're both like tiny clones of her, especially our daughter, Ingrid." Bonnie replied. "She's got the lungs of a future opera singer for sure. But Philip is just the sweetest little guy too, he's so chill and snuggly. It was hard to leave them today, I miss them already."

She forcibly clamped her mouth shut after that because Bonnie didn't want to be _that_ person, the one who never shut up about their kids. For three weeks old there was so damn much she wanted to brag about with them, they were just so amazing.

The day ground on and finally it was five o'clock. Bonnie would normally have rushed home, gone to the gym, stayed to do paperwork, anything but trudge listlessly out of the building and drive across to the therapist's office. Marceline had made the appointment for her after her irrational midnight panic that something horrible would happen to Ina a couple of weeks earlier and Bonnie had only half-heartedly argued against needing help; if it had been anyone else who'd woken with the unreasonable fear that their partner was about to drown their baby she'd have suggested they spend some time talking through their issues with a therapist too. So with a heavy heart she pushed the door of the office open, took a seat in the waiting room and waited for her name to be called. It was for the twins, she rationalised. So they would have well balanced parents without anxiety issues that more than likely had a lot to do with almost being murdered and then almost losing the love of her life to childbirth complications a few weeks later.

"I'm not crazy just because I'm seeing a therapist." Bonnie muttered to herself under her breath. She wasn't completely convinced that she believed herself but then the receptionist was calling her forward and showing her into an office where a gentle faced older woman was smiling and her and standing to shake her hand. Time to take one for the team and be the best mother she could, even if that meant talking to a stranger about her feelings. Anything, if it was for their twins.

...

Bonnie was thoughtful on the drive home, maybe a little more than she'd expected to be. At least she was certain the therapist they were paying for was worth every penny; she hadn't realised quite how skilfully they'd be able to read her and help guide her through her emotions. Under any other circumstances that could leave her feeling a little vulnerable. But since it was a confidential therapy session with one of the best qualified professionals money could buy it felt easier to open up, admit she was still screwed up from being stalked and almost stabbed and watching Marceline almost bleed to death. In a way it felt like a weight off her chest to admit she hated feeling helpless, hated that there were things she had no power to influence that affected her life. That Marcy was completely right when she accused her partner of being a total control freak, as much as it galled her to admit it. Bonnie was lost in thought as she pulled onto the drive and it took her a moment to register that the shiny red car parked in her usual spot wasn't the Jaguar she'd recently given Finn. There was an oversized ribbon tied into a bow on the roof like it was a giant present of some kind. Her jaw dropped and she hurried into the house.

"Marcy? Why is there a car out there? Who's car is it?" she asked the moment she got the door open.

"Come into the lounge babe, Daddy's here." came the reply.

Hunson was indeed sitting on their sofa cradling Philip and beaming at her when she entered the room. Bonnie recognised that grin; it was the same grin Marceline wore when she'd done something she thought was especially clever. The redhead's eyes narrowed. That trademark Sneaky Abadeer grin meant something was going on, quite possibly _hi-jinks._ Abadeer hi-jinks were automatically suspicious.

"Did you buy a Tesla Model S?" she accused, pointing a finger at the older man.

"Yes." he replied simply, grin widening.

"That's my _dream car_." Bonnie ground out.

"I know. You live with my daughter, it wasn't so hard to find out what sort of vehicle you badly wanted but couldn't justify the expense of. And they have a five star safety rating across the board, only one percent of cars tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration can boast a five star rating in every category. Theresa showed me how to use Google." Hunson replied smugly. Bonnie stared; she didn't know what to say or what was happening.

"Bon, Daddy bought you a car. A safe one so you can enjoy driving the kids places." Marcy added, in case it wasn't perfectly clear. "Surprise! You wanna go test drive it?"

" But- but- I... why?" she gaped, sinking down onto the sofa in shock.

"I saw one, I liked it, I don't need a new car and you're family. Besides, I thought you could use a little cheering up since all that nasty business with King and all. Bonnibel, even if I lived to be a hundred I'd still never spend all the money I have. Please, let me look after my family while I can. Consider it an investment for my grandchildren's futures; it's fully electric with a top of the range battery and a range over three hundred miles. This car will save the earth for them while you enjoy zero to sixty acceleration in less than three seconds. It's got the best of everything, I didn't spare any expense. Just promise you'll enjoy it." Hunson replied, face turning serious.

"I don't know what to say, I- I want to say I can't accept this? But, it's my dream car." Bonnie gaped, still looking like she'd just been hit over the head with something.

"I know it is, I was careful to get the right one. It's an ex-showroom model so the milometer isn't quite at zero I'm afraid, a couple of people have already driven it. But it's less than a hundred on the clock, if that's ok?"

Bonnie just stared at him.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's ok. That's better than ok. This is... just, I can't thank you enough."

"Go drive your car, I'll watch the little ones for a while. Enjoy." Hunson beamed, all smiles again.

They drove out along the coast road again; Bonnie felt like her face was going to split open from the size of her grin. It was _amazing_ to glide silently along the empty road under the waning moon, every bit as amazing as she'd imagined it would be.

"Marcy? Do you wanna do something a bit naughty?" the redhead grinned, feeling suddenly a little reckless.

"Wound is still healing, babe. Maybe once I'm not in pain when I bend we can christen the back seat." Marceline replied with a guilty blush.

"No, not that, although I'd definitely be down for naughty car sex some time. You wanna see how fast we can push this thing? There are no speed cameras, no places for a cop to be watching and no other cars for miles, we're on a long straight stretch of road. I mean, if you wanted to go just a _little_ above the speed limit, it'd be fun..."

"Are you, Dr Straight-Laced Sugar, Follower of the Rules, Gooder Than Glinda The Good Witch, suggesting we _break the law_?" Marceline asked in shock.

"Maybe you finally rubbed off on me." Bonnie grinned in reply.

"Wow. And once this surgical wound is healed I look forward to rubbing off you on again if you're gonna turn into the sorta person who speeds on long straight roads. If you know what I mean. Floor it, babe."

That was all the encouragement Bonnie needed. The car shot forwards with enough power to pin them both back against their seats and for a moment Marceline could have sworn the road ahead of them blurred with speed. She let out a delighted whoop as they flew across the asphalt and sailed way past the speed limit for a couple of miles. Then the redhead slowly eased the brakes on and they slowed back down to a sensible speed.

"That was awesome!" Marcy grinned.

"So awesome! And we'll never, ever tell Finn about it, ok? I've never had a speeding ticket and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Please, like he's not done exactly the same thing in the Jaguar already. Can I check out the stereo?"

They glided home with Wagner's _Ride of the Valkyries_ booming out in crystal clear surround sound, both grinning from ear to ear. With the elation of the surprise car, the weight off her shoulders from the therapy session and the warm hand wrapped lovingly in her own Bonnie had completely forgotten to feel tired or stressed, in fact it was a better end to her first day back at work than she could have wished for.

...

Marcy woke in the night feeling unusually refreshed and warm; for a moment she lay perfectly still in bed enjoying the darkness and rare almost-silence. So relaxing, so peaceful, so- _oh God why hadn't the babies cried yet?_

She sat up, eyes flying wide open and heart hammering in sudden fear. How long had she been asleep? What was wrong with the twins, why hadn't they cried for her? But after a moment she managed to focus, the fear calmed immediately and was replaced by a warm surge of love. There were no babies sleeping in the cradle at the end of the bed; they were both lying in Bonnie's arms as she sat quietly rocking them in the nursing chair by the window.

"Bon?"

"Hm? Oh, did I wake you, love?"

"No, I don't think so. They ok?"

"Yeah, they're asleep. I just had a nightmare and I wanted to hold them."

Marcy slid out of bed, wincing by habit at the pain in her abdomen although it had softened from a sharp stabbing agony to a dull ache after three and a half weeks. She padded quietly across to all three of them, crouched by the chair and rested her head on Bonnie's shoulder.

"You wanna talk about it?" Marcy asked quietly, scanning what she could make out of her partner's face through the gloom.

"It was just a stupid stress nightmare, I was trying to run but couldn't get my feet to move. I don't remember it all but I think it involved zombies at one point. Flying zombies? I dunno, it was dumb. I just didn't want to disturb you by hugging you too hard and pulling on your stitches. And I figured these guys might find a use for some extra love. You know, it must be scary to learn to sleep outside of a human uterus, yeah?" Bonnie replied with an exhausted smile.

"Babe, you're running on empty. You've barely slept and now you're back at work and already having nightmares again, come back to bed." Marceline murmured. She rubbed the back of her partner's neck comfortingly and Bonnie let out a quiet sigh of appreciation at the gesture.

"But I just wanted to check they were ok."

"And you've checked, and they're fine. Come on, sleep now."

Bonnie reluctantly lowered first Ingrid and then Philip back down into the cradle but she lingered over them, staring down at their sleeping faces like she'd never seen them before.

"Ingrid has your nose." she finally whispered.

"And she has your temper, too. Can you believe we made these perfect little humans together?" Marcy replied quietly as she slid an arm around her partner's waist. Bonnie leaned back into the hug and turned her face to press a kiss to Marceline's cheek.

"You made them, I didn't really do much."

"Are you kidding? They wouldn't exist without you. You held my hand in the clinic, you helped choose the donor, you brought me ginger tea when I got sick, you rubbed my feet and my back when they were hurting, you comforted me through my mood swings, you were there right through labour even though I was crazy on the drugs and you were the one who introduced me to our babies when I woke up from surgery. Bon, there's literally no way I could have done any of this without you."

Bonnie took a second to simply appreciate the warmth of the arms around her, the comforting familiar feel of the person who made her feel complete and who loved her unconditionally. The strongest person she'd ever met, someone who always got what they wanted one way or another. The redhead considered she was amazingly lucky to be one of the things Marceline wanted.

"You'd have found a way. If we'd never met you'd still have ended up being someone's mother. You're brilliant at it. You were born for it, as odd as that sounds when I consider that you used to be a grungy punk rocker whose life's ambition was to make a cello cover of Queen's greatest hits album. And we both know how much you wanted to have a family. You'd have done it alone if you had to."

"And? I'd have had a kid or two, maybe. And they wouldn't be _these_ kids, _our_ kids. Because I don't care what the genetics say, they're half of you too. And I am so worried that you don't know how much you mean to me, or how much doing this together with you means to me. The babies love you, I love you. The three of you are like, the missing puzzle pieces that make me feel complete. Wherever you guys are, so long as I'm with you I'm home."

"You're so mushy. Jake was right, I turned you into a marshmallow. I know what you mean, though. You make me feel like I'm home too. We should go back to bed, you'll need to be up to feed the twins again soon enough and I've got to go to work and there's a mountain of laundry to fix tomorrow, I want to get some really nice flowers for you father and... it could all feel like a grind, couldn't it? But it doesn't. It feels right, as exhausting as it is. I wouldn't trade this life for anything." Bonnie whispered into the darkness. She trailed a hand very softly down the cheek of her son and daughter in turn before allowing herself to be gently tugged backwards into the big bed she shared with the love of her life.

There were four heartbeats in the bedroom, four chests rising and falling gently, four minds wandering through dreams. One family, each member resting in comfort and contentment and surrounded by the three people they loved most in the world. Bonnie's last thought before she closed her eyes and allowed the lapping tides of sleep to close over her again was that she couldn't have imagined a better ending to the forty weeks that had completely changed their lives. In just nine short months they'd created two whole new people and turned themselves from regular women into mothers, from partners to parents. It was a kind of magic, a kind even she could believe in.

...

 _ **EPILOGUE - 40 MONTHS**_

It was brilliant late summer sunshine that morning, which to Marceline's exhausted eyes was almost as refreshing as a full night's sleep. But if she was going to be up all night for something at least she had the very best reason. They swung into the well-known hospital car park and pulled up in Bonnie's parking spot because she wouldn't be needing it for a while anyway. A quick check over her shoulder at the two matching car seats in the back tugged that same well-worn grin of pure adoration onto her weary face. Philip was fast asleep in his seat clutching the plush velvet bat toy he'd been smitten with since the first time Uncle Jake had handed it to him on his birthday that year. The little boy's face was smooth and peaceful in slumber, crowned with a mop of shiny black curls like he was a tiny cherub. Ingrid was looking back at her mother a little sleepily from her own car seat, soft hazel eyes half closed and head nodding down to her shoulder. In the three years and a bit since they were first placed in her arms Marcy had never, ever failed to be completely overwhelmed by the fierce throb of love that surged through her chest when she looked at her two babies.

"Hey, wake up sleepy heads. We're here." she told them softly. Philip's eyes fluttered open after a minute and he gazed blearily at her.

"Is Mama here?" he asked in confusion.

"She's inside. Are you ready?"

Philip nodded happily and Ingrid wiggled in her seat and giggled, staring out of the window.

"Mummy, _look_." she breathed a second later, pointing at the sky. " _Rainbow_."

"Oh it's really pretty, isn't it darling? It's like the one on your brother's shirt." Marcy replied happily as she slid from the driver's seat and came around to the back of the car, opening the door to lift them both out of their seats. Philip's little chest swelled out importantly and Ingrid nodded fervently. His t-shirt bore an embroidered white cloud, raindrops, smiling sunshine and a rainbow above a multi-coloured flower stretching its leaves up to the light. No way their boy was getting raised to believe that bright colours were just for girls, Marceline was determined he was going to be given the chance to explore every possible option the world had to offer him.

Once both twins were out of the car and waiting out of reach of passing vehicle on the sidewalk Marcy fetched the bouquet of flowers from the passenger seat and the wrapped presents. Both children lifted their little hands up expectantly and Ingrid claimed the flowers while Philip cradled the presents as though they were made of delicate glass. In his other hand he clutched Mr Bat and his Mum's shirt sleeve and trotted along by her side humming to himself, lost in his own dream world like usual. It melted Marceline's heart every time even though it happened so often; he was almost a carbon copy of how she'd been as a young child. Ingrid was more like Bonnie. She was practical and fascinated by the technical details of the world while her brother was still in love with how beautiful and exciting everything was, still overwhelmed by the sheer joy of being alive. Marcy hoped he never ever lost that innocent joy.

"Is Mama awake?" Ingrid asked suddenly, tugging on Marceline's other hand.

"I think so, sweetie. She's very tired though so we'll be quiet once we get there, ok? Just so we don't disturb her if she is having a nap."

"Mhm. Imma give her a biiiiiig kiss." the little girl nodded decidedly. She looked exactly like a tiny clone of her mother too, except that the dark hair hanging almost to her shoulders was wavy rather than the tighter curls her brother wore and there was a barely visible spattering of dark chocolate freckles against the paler caramel shade of her nose and cheeks. Bonnie was fond of saying that she looked like a little princess made of candy.

It was early and the hospital wasn't too busy yet; they ran into Lydia by the elevator and the curvy woman stealthily slid a couple of little toffees to the twins from the stash she always carried about her person for those exact circumstances.

"Well the whole family's here with flowers and presents. So it was in the night?" the receptionist asked with a sly grin.

"Yep. About two this morning, it was all quite fast. But they're fine, you can come up later if you get a minute." Marcy added proudly.

"As if Berryman's gonna let me have five minutes for social calls. Maybe on my lunch." Lydia replied with an eye roll. "And how are the little Sugars, you guys excited?"

"YES!" Ingrid yelled happily, almost bouncing with her sudden explosion of enthusiasm. Philip hung back a little shyly behind his Mum's leg, clutching Mr Bat tightly and smiling timidly at the floor around his mouthful of toffee.

"Little cuties." Lydia smiled. "Well I gotta run. Congratulations. Like, no rest for the wicked or something, yeah?"

"Yeah. See you soon, Lyds." Marcy replied as the blonde woman got into the elevator next to their own and disappeared.

"Mummy, she's funny." Ingrid said solemnly around her own mouthful of candy.

"She is. But she's a really good secretary for your Mama and she's been our friend since before you guys were born. Ina, are you being careful with those flowers?"

She whipped her little hand away from where she'd been curiously peeling back a few soft pink rose petals to examine the slim filaments underneath and looked up at her mother with perfectly faked innocence in her wide eyes.

"Yes, Mum."

"Hmm. You're such a little trouble maker. But too cute to be angry with. Come on darling, be a good girl for Mummy. I'm very tired and I need you to show me what a well behaved big girl you can be."

Philip was still hugging his toy bat close and made a little noise of fear as the elevator jerked wheezily upwards. Marceline reached out and smoothed back his hair lovingly.

"It's ok little man, it's just moving us up to where your Mama's waiting." she soothed. He turned tremulous eyes to her and received a warm but exhausted smile in return. Then the elevator shuddered to a halt and Marcy's heart sped up a little. She'd been there all morning, it wasn't like she didn't know what to expect. But she also hadn't known her heart could expand to hold that much love and bringing the twins along too... She knew it would happen but when they stepped around the door of the ward and Ina broke into a run to Bonnie's bed Marcy was drowning in a tidal wave of love all over again.

"Hello honey, I missed you." Bonnie was telling Ingrid quietly as Marcy and Philip approached the bed. "Are those for me? Oh they're lovely, thank you."

"They're for _baby."_ Ina corrected shyly as she jiggled impatiently from foot to foot. "C'n I see her?"

"Of course. Come on, up you get."

Marcy helped lift Ina into her Mama's arms; the little girl wasn't so heavy but it was obvious Bonnie was still exhausted and had spent the time she should have been napping staring entranced at the newest member of their family. Marcy had done a fair bit of staring herself; it still seemed a little unreal. But there she was, all six pounds two ounces of her, tiny wisps of hair on her head already a pale golden red, so similar to her Mama that Marcy felt like she'd known the squalling, scrunch-faced little potato all her life. And now she took the perfect sleeping newborn carefully from the hospital cradle next to the bed and placed her gently in Ina's arms as her Mama showed her how to hold her new sister. Philip was trying to pull himself up onto the bed too and Marcy caught him about the waist and hoisted him the rest of the way while he strained his neck to catch a glimpse of the tiny slumbering face.

"Her name is Sofia." Bonnie told the twins quietly as they stared hard at the newborn.

"She's squishy." Philip volunteered after a second, reaching out curiously to her tiny hand. For one second Marceline was scared he'd hurt her but she remembered he was her beautiful, gentle son and just like she'd expected he simply laid his fingers ever so softly and reverently against her skin and smiled. "An' warm!"

"She was only born six hours ago, she's gonna be squishy for a little while longer. You were both quite squishy when you were this small." Bonnie informed them with a smile.

"We were small?" Ina asked in awe.

"Yes, you were both much smaller than Sofia. Especially you, Philip. You were so little you had to stay in the hospital for a while after you were born so your lungs could grow more."

"I was in Mummy's tummy." he replied knowingly. Marcy smiled and nodded, he beamed back proudly.

"An Sofia went in Mama's tummy." Ina added. She giggled and shook her head like a dog shaking off water when both her parents beamed at her and the sudden movement caused tiny blue eyes to open and peer blearily at the new people around her.

"She woked!" Philip shouted joyfully. Next second the baby let out a thin, sharp wail and her tiny face crumpled into the kind of pure misery only a child with absolutely no emotional reference point could manage.

"Shh, it's ok little one. Mama's here and so is Mummy and your brother and sister. They came just for you." Bonnie told her tiny daughter, rocking her gently until the baby's cries quieted to whimpers. The twins were still just staring at her in fascination, not even slightly upset by the noise.

The maternity ward was a strange place, Bonnie reflected sleepily as she watched her family get better acquainted with her youngest daughter. There was tragedy there for some; they'd had their own share of sorrows when she'd miscarried her first pregnancy at seven weeks. Those had been hard times, with year old twins to look after and the open wound of loss still so fresh in her mind; some days she'd thought she would never be ready to try again. But there was so much love in the room that day, despite their earlier sorrows Bonnie couldn't bring herself a single moment of regret for the journey that had lead them there. She'd exchanged weary but elated conversations with a couple of the other new mothers on the ward while she waited for Marceline and the twins to arrive. And more than anything she realised how many people out there were carrying around so much love inside of them and she'd never really appreciated it, never realised just how much pure _love_ the world contained. It might have made her feel small or insignificant but instead it felt more than ever that she'd been welcomed into a huge and secret society of parents that she'd had access to but never completely understood when the twins were born. That's why they called it Mother Love, because it was distinct and separate from any other kind of love. The instant they'd laid Sofia on her chest still naked and screaming from her rather abrupt entrance to the world she'd forgotten all about the unimaginable agony of labour exactly like Lady had described when she'd met Kim. Even when the twins had been born it was different, she'd loved them instantly but it had taken time to get to know them especially with Philip being ill. But this time everything had gone perfectly, almost textbook. And that meant there were no emergencies, no neonatal ICU admissions to tinge that new and fierce love with terror and sadness. Expecting it had been one thing but being prepared for the immense surge of unconditional love had been something altogether impossible until it was streaming through her body irrepressibly and the tears were simply pouring down her face from the sheer depth of raw emotion.

Bonnie finally allowed the weight of exhaustion pushing down on her mind to overwhelm her and lull her into a badly needed sleep; the last thing she saw before her eyelids slid closed of their own accord and she surrendered to oblivion was Marceline tenderly cradling their new baby while Philip presented Mr Bat to her and Sofia carefully examined her little sister's tiny palm with a look of pure wonder on her angelic face. Of course Bonnie knew things weren't always going to be perfect and that there'd be days when she just wanted to scream with frustration, days she'd wish for her quiet and well organised life back and moments when she wished however briefly that she could just walk away from it all. But right then, lying exhausted in her maternity bed watching her older children, her partner and their newborn daughter bond as a family Bonnie knew that it would be worth it. She finally surrendered to dreams, surrounded by the gentle sounds of their children's voices murmuring to their Mum and Sofia's tiny questioning noises as she explored her brand new world.


End file.
